A bipartisan group of 72 Members of Congress have written to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to urge that the Agency delist the gray wolf from the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in the Continental United States.

The letter was spearheaded by Sens.Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and John Barrasso(R-WY), and Reps. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and DocHastings (R-WA), Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.

In the letter, the Members of Congress write that “[w]olves are not an endangered species and do not merit federal protections. The full delisting of the species and the return of the management of wolf populations to State governments is long overdue. As you know, State governments are fully qualified to responsibly manage wolf populations and are able to meet both the needs of local communities and wildlife populations.”

The lawmakers added that an unmanaged wolf population poses a threat to the communities and surrounding livestock and indigenous wildlife, but that “currently State wildlife officials have their hands tied any time wolves are involved.” They add that State wildlife managers “need to be able to respond to the needs of their native wildlife without being burdened by the impediments of the federal bureaucracy created by the ESA.”

In addition to Hatch and Barrasso, Senators signing the letter were :

Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX)

Mike Crapo (R-ID)

Mike Enzi (R-WY)

Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND)

Dean Heller (R-NV)

Mike Lee (R-UT)

Joe Manchin (D-WV)

Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)

James Risch (R-ID)

John Thune (R-ND)

David Vitter (R-LA)

Members of the House signing the letter in addition to Lummis and Hastings were :

Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

Dan Benishek (R-MI)

Rob Bishop (R-UT)

Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)

Kevin Brady (R-TX)

Jason Chaffetz (R-UT)

Howard Coble (R-NC)

Tom Cole (R-OK)

Mike Conaway (R-TX)

Kevin Cramer (R-ND)

Steven Daines (R-MT)

Ron DeSantis (R-FL)

Jeff Duncan (R-SC)

Stephen Fincher (R-TN)

Bob Gibbs (R-OH)

Sam Graves (R-MO)

Bill Huizenga (R-MI)

Duncan Hunter (R-CA)

Bill Johnson (R-OH)

Steve King (R-IA)

John Kline (R-MN),

Doug Lamalfa (R-CA)

Bob Latta (R-OH)

Blayne Luetkemeyer (R-MO)

Kenny Marchant (R-TX)

Jim Matheson (D-UT)

Patrick McHenry (R-NC)

Candice Miller (R-MI)

Jeff Miller (R-FL)

Mick Mulvaney (R-SC)

Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)

Kristi Noem (R-SD)

Alan Nunnelee (R-MS)

Steve Palazzo (R-MS)

Collin Peterson (D-MN)

Mike Pompeo (R-KS)

Jim Renacci (R-OH)

Reid Ribble (R-WI)

Dennis Ross (R-FL)

Paul Ryan (R-WI)

Steve Scalise (R-LA)

David Schweikert (R-AZ)

Austin Scott (R-GA)

Pete Sessions (R-TX)

Terri Sewell (D-AL)

Adrian Smith (R-NE)

Steve Southerland (R-FL)

Chris Stewart (R-UT)

Steve Stivers (R-OH)

Steve Stockman (R-TX)

Marlin Stutzman (R-TX)

Glenn Thompson (R-PA)

Tim Walz (D-MN)

Randy Weber (R-TX)

Lynn Westmoreland (GA)

Rob Wittman (R-VA)

Don Young (R-AK)

To view a signed copy of the letter, click HERE. The full text of the letter is below:

The Honorable Dan Ashe

Director

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

1849 C Street, NW

Washington, DC 20240

Dear Director Ashe:

We understand the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is in the process of reviewing the Endangered Species Act (ESA) recovery status of the gray wolf in the lower 48 States and is preparing to announce the delisting of the species. We support the nationwide delisting of wolves and urge you to move as quickly as possible on making this a reality. We were supportive of the USFWS decision in 2009 when most wolves were delisted in the Northern Rocky Mountains, again in 2011 when wolves in the Great Lake States were delisted, and the 2012 delisting in Wyoming. It is unfortunate that these decisions were met with lawsuits from environmental activists.

Wolves are not an endangered species and do not merit federal protections. The full delisting of the species and the return of the management of wolf populations to State governments is long overdue. As you know, State governments are fully qualified to responsibly manage wolf populations and are able to meet both the needs of local communities and wildlife populations.

Unmanaged wolves are devastating to livestock and indigenous wildlife. Currently State wildlife officials have their hands tied any time wolves are involved. They need to be able to respond to the needs of their native wildlife without being burdened by the impediments of the federal bureaucracy created by the ESA. During the four decades that wolves have had ESA protections, there has been an uncontrolled and unmanaged growth of wolf populations resulting in devastating impacts on hunting and ranching in America as well as tragic damages to historically strong and healthy herds of moose, elk, big horn sheep, and mule deer.

As you consider these much needed changes to federal protections with regard to the gray wolf, we urge you to expand the delisting of the species to all of the lower 48 states. It is critical that the states be given the ability to properly manage all of the species within their boundaries.

#WOLFHUNTERSWORDS MATTER: EXPOSING THE CAMOUFLAGED VIOLENCE OF HUNTING RHETORICUntil we extend our circle of compassion to all living things, we ourselves will not find peace.~ Albert SchweitzerTo stay with the concept of power dominant in our current situation…helps guarantee the defeat of other ways of living…To remain within the existing cultural values helps ensure that nothing else will be possible. To seek ways of embodying other understandings of power makes it possible that being as domination and control will not have the last word.Sharon D. Welch ~ A Feminist Ethic of Risk 2Heidi A. HuseAssistant ProfessorDepartment of EnglishUniversity of Tennessee at Martinhhuse@utm.eduhttp://www.infactispax.org/volume2/Huse.pdf

“In the relation between people and animals we cannot fathom the pleasure

that many people derive from inflicting suffering”. ~ Marius Donker

The Department of Natural Resources documents nearly 19,000 car-deer accidents wreaked on Wisconsin roads so far this year. 14 people died in deer/car crashes. The “9-day traditional hunt” will increase those numbers. It is part of our cost of their doing business, killing during the rut when deer are disoriented with seasonal hormones raging.

Adrenaline will also be raging as over 600,000 hunters take to the woods November 23 – December 1 to destroy over 300,000 deer. But it is just part of the September 14 to January 31 expanded deer killing opportunities: http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/hunt/documents/forecast.pdf

One overall concept should be stressed. It is our duty to stop people from deliberately causing suffering. Some people enjoy killing. It is the rest of society that has failed to say “Enough”.

The 90% of us who do not kill are disenfranchised, by design and our own neglect. We have not stood for a way to spare our animals – even on our own property as they are lured out to surrounding feed lots and lures. We need our human rights to defend us in protecting our wild neighbors. Instead we have “hunter harrassment laws” criminalizing anyone who tries.

All human “rights” are an invention of humans to serve themselves. The most organized push their exploitation into law, often against the rest of us. It is clear that animals and nature do not have any rights in this human system of laws unless we act on their behalf. It is a human responsibility to protect the vulnerable. Stop farming for deer to kill, destroying natural predators and balance. “The public is continually misled about the purpose of hunting and fed a bunch of nonsense about what “justifies” hunters in killing deer,” blogs Cheryl Abbate http://veganfeministnetwork.com/tis-the-season-of-blood-guns-violence-and-hyper-masculinity/ in ‘Tis the Season of Blood, Guns, Violence, and Hyper-masculinity.

Cathy Stepp has announced growing the deer herd another 175,000 with policies favoring killing trophy bucks to leave does to produce next year’s crop. 10% of those extra deer end up dead on the road causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in car repairs, human trauma, hospital and funeral expenses for the rest of us.

Such are the tangle of laws that entitle hunters. Hunting is one recreational private pursuit that endangers all of us. Although most of the 1000 hunter accidental shootings and killings of people in this country happen to other hunters, we are all at risk with hunting and trapping expanded to almost all public lands including state parks.

Killing is the “connection to nature” taught by the DNR.

How about introducing children to a live fawn and humane education to give them choice before they kill one?

“For me – and the many people who contact me to offer their support – killing innocent animals for self-gratification is no different from killing innocent people for self-gratification. By extension, then, trophy hunting – the repeated killing of wild animals – should surely be viewed as serial killing.”

He describes the similarities between joy in killing animals and the power and control addictions of serial killing humans. ( Wisconsin is infamous for producing serial killers, two who cannibalized their victims. )

Often the first murder causes feelings of revulsion and remorse. This is a initial response repeatedly described by hunters who were taught to kill as children. Patterson expands on this: “But the killing – like a dose of highly addictive drug – leads to more and more murders until the person is stopped.”

Trophy hunters are repeat hunters who often expand their recreation to other states, and many species. Hunting competitions and photo ops of organizations like Safari Club International, promote killing over 300 animals to win top prizes. Hunting magazines are filled with pictures of hunters flaunting their weapons and victims, and advertisements for canned hunts world-wide. Trophy hunters take pictures or films of the moment the animal is killed for viewing later, like pornography, for self-gratification and feeling important.

Both trophy and serial killer plan the killing in advance, enjoying stalking and choosing the site, often finding this foreplay more exciting than the actual killing. Both serial and trophy killers take trophy body parts or adornments from the bodies – like antlers, heads, skins.

“The combination of festive activities and killing breeds sadism. You should never combine torture and killing of animals with happiness, having fun & lots of alcohol, having a good time for people. Neither torturing nor killing is fun for an animal.” That is a quote from Marius Donker who wrote against causing animal suffering.

But Wisconsin’s DNR is all about causing suffering and death, terrorizing wildlife with packs of dogs, mentoring trapping, mangling and bludgeoning wildlife, combining alcohol and lots of fun killing.

We do not have a Department of anything “natural”. It has become the Department of Serial Killing.

(This a PG-13 rated article. We purposely omitted profanity laced posts, death threats, and pictures of blood and gore because we feel that the evidence of bigotry is obvious and the need for action compelling.)By Bob Ferris

In late December an “event page” on facebook was attacked. The page was celebrating a prayer vigil for wolves that was to be held in Salem, Oregon. And the attackers swooped down electronically the day after the event and filled the page with bloody pictures of wolf kills and fetal deer purported to have been “aborted” by wolves. The action was disturbing and eerily like the protests held by the Westboro Baptist Church, where they show up where they are not wanted and act in the most offensive and inappropriate manner possible.

The Westboro mob is classified as a hate group and rightfully so. They—like the anti-wolf folks—are generally overflowing with unbridled faith, strongly held opinions and self-righteousness and somewhat bereft of relevant education, understanding, or any form of tolerance or compassion. Both groups are classic bigots in that they hold unfounded and yet deep beliefs and will not let facts or reason dissuade them from dishing out broadsides of vitriol towards the object of their scorn whether it be homosexuals, people of color, members of other religions or wolves.

IS WOLF HATRED GATEWAY BIGOTRY?

Do I go too far in linking bigotry against wolves with the same attitudes against individuals and sectors of the human population? I don’t think so. Studies have conclusively linked animal abuse to child abuse, domestic violence and even serial killing. http://www.azcentral.com/families/articles/0130fam_cruelty.htmlThe experts assert that these acts are all parts of the same dangerous syndrome. I strongly suspect that bigotry is a related syndrome and behaves the same way. And I have seen enough human-directed bigotry—mainly racial, anti-Semitic and life-style directed—on the facebook pages of these anti-wolf actors and their compatriots to think that, once started, predator bigotry translates quite easily across the wildlife-to-human spectrum. SCIENCE IS NOT A RELIGION AND OPINIONS ARE NOT FACTS

“Now that the offices of the Babylonian Pope almost completely rules this planet through his many countless satellite corporations he doesn't need to keep building his American Army for world conquest. Now that he believes he is finally close to the completion of his 12th Crusade in 2000 years where he attains Mount Moriah, removes that filthy Dome of the Rock Mosque, and rebuilds Solomon's Third Temple to rule this Worldly system from. He can cull his American herds. thats you and me Bob, and our children. Thats his sciences you're pushing, all nice and pretty, why everyone should just love saving the Mother, returning Mother to her once Pristine wild natural Garden of Eden, the counterfeit eden. Where all the non believing atheist and real Bible believing heretics starve to death. It's just brilliant. Do you get the hint? Do you see what's been going on while you had your head stuck in those bushes observing how some nature works? The rest of the story Bob. This world has a rest of the story. What the hell do you think all of those papal serving 30th through 33rd degree initiated Masonic political hacks have been doing all of these years? You want us to believe in his garbage nature worship?”

Wolf-haters—like climate change deniers—are people of faith rather than reason. Are these generalizations justified? All I can say are the trends are strong and consistent. For example, they tend to believe and frequently promote ideas such as reducing environmental protections and waiting for trickle-down economics to work because they have been told these actions will improve their financial conditions, though studies and experience indicate exactly the opposite.

They also strongly subscribe to the notion that more guns in the US will make them safer and more secure when numbers and a simple scanning of current events indicate that a well-armed US is decidedly less safe. Across the board these brave souls generally responded to the recent tragedy in Connecticut with calls to arm teachers and reminders to their compatriots to stock up on certain weapons before it was too late.

Moreover, they seem to have some sort of intellectual equivalent to a semi-permeable membrane that only allows them to believe reports and studies that indicate that wolves are devastating deer, elk and moose populations as well as reducing their personal safety. In all of this they tend to select which “experts” to believe based on the how well those experts agree with their preconceived ideas just as they would select a preacher based on their perception of god and various religious tenets. As a result, the wolf-haters end up being deeply devoted to a rag-tag group of fringe commentators or contrarian scientists and everyone who disagrees with them or their champions is either stupid, on drugs, or blinded by the “green” or “liberal” media.

What the anti-wolf crowd cannot win via honest and fact-based debate is achieved through insult, bullying and threat. They are emboldened in this approach by the successes they achieve when rolling out their tortured arguments on like-minded forums such as the Skinny Moose site where they are thick as fleas. In contrast, where they are largely absent are from forums occupied by working wildlife biologists such as The Wildlife Society, Society for Conservation Biology, and Wildlife Professionals discussion groups on LinkedIn. I suspect that their absence has to do with past responses they have received from folks with grounding in science and tendencies toward respectful and analytical debate.

THE RAIDERS AND THEIR COLLEAGUES

There were a handful of folks who aggressively invaded the facebook event page, which was eventually taken down. The core perpetrators were Scott Rockholm, Chandie Morse Bartell, and Bill Kelly. These are names known to people working on wolves who have suffered through venomous dialogues with these anti-wolf zealots who can selectively quote chapter and verse from flawed reports or irrelevant studies, but like what we classically envision as Bible-thumpers do so with self-interest at the forefront and little understanding of actual meaning or context.

Scott Rockholm is the producer/director of the documentary/fantasy film called Yellowstone is Dead. Scott is a native Californian who now lives in Sand Point, Idaho. He runs the Rockholm Media Group and also is the President and CEO of Save Western Wildlife (see below) which purports to be about saving wildlife in the West as well as the Western culture and lifestyle. SWW claims to be a non-profit and is registered in Idaho but has not developed a website and has not apparently posted their tax information with the IRS. And just how far out there do you have to be http://www.idahoforwildlife.com/Tom%20Remington%20Response.html to have David Allen feel obligated to distance himself from you?

Chandie Morse Bartell is a prolific anti-wolf poster who has a degree in elementary education, taught young children in Potlatch, Idaho and boasts that her third grade teacher in Idaho had them sing Dixie after they did the Pledge of Allegiance each morning. She is clearly carrying on that legacy of intolerance and anti-federal sentiment that she learned so many years ago. And nowhere is that illustrated more strongly than in her nearly constant stream of anti-wolf and pro-gun comments on her facebook page and on a multitude of electronic forums in the Rockies. Her facebook page is a who's who of the anti-wolf crowd including No Wolves and the apply named Antiwolf Nut as well as Tony Mayer http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2011/06/08/elk-poaching-anti-wolf-leader-punished/ convicted elk poacher and anti-wolf activist of saveelk.com fame.

“If us pushing that wolf back over to be shot in idaho works.. we willc ontinue to push many more back for the shooters. hell we will even pay for the ammo. ha ha ha ha.”—Bill Kelly

BILL KELLYhttps://www.facebook.com/DummyDOG?fref=ts claims to have been educated by Mafia Wars which rings true when you read the above quote in reference to a collared wolf that migrated from Oregon where is was legally protected to Idaho where it is not. His suggestion of “pushing” Oregon wolves to Idaho for slaughter probably makes sense in Mafia Wars where laws and illegalities are likely encouraged.

When we take the time to understand the philosophies and motivations of the above exhibited on their facebook pages and elsewhere, the underlying themes are of hate and intolerance. We also find that they are mostly high school educated or hold undergraduate degrees in fields little relevant to understanding the complex mechanisms of predator-prey relationships, trophic cascades, gene-flow, experimental design and the subtleties of concepts such as niches, hyper-volumes, biological potential, carrying capacity, and compensatory versus additive predation. In fact, they tend to hold those educated in the field in low regard calling them "eggspurts." They also all seem to be friends with Robert T. Fanning—the failed anti-wolf gubernatorial candidate in Montana and driver behind the wolf hate group, The Friends of the Northern Yellowstone Elk Herd http://www.fotnyeh.org/index.php and they are all white (i.e., Caucasian).

SAVE WESTERN WILDLIFE

The above comment stream–again a PG-13 selection–was taken from the Save Western Wildlife facebook page and these were in response to a news story on wolves that were illegally killed in Wyoming. Save Western Wildlife(SWW) https://www.facebook.com/SaveWesternWildlife?fref=tswas founded in 2010. The three founders were Scott Rockholm, Frederic C. Rockholm Jr. and Todd Fross. Scott and Frederic are brothers originally from California now living in Sand Point, Idaho and Mr. Fross is a trapper and the ranch manager of the Broken Anvil Ranch in Lander, Wyoming. The sole actions of this organization seem to be Scott Rockholm’s public advocacy/attacks on various policies and peoplehttp://tomremington.com/2012/10/09/dare-we-speak-of-the-demons-within-our-fish-and-game-departments/#comment-767631087 and the dialogs on the SWW facebook page. The tenor and content of the discussions on the SWW facebook page are disturbing as the site seems to attract the worst of the anti-wolf, anti-science and anti-government camps. Regular posters range from biblical stewardship advocate and former USFS employee Steve Busch http://oldmanoftheski.com/2012/12/09/mene-mene-tekel-upharsin-the-sleepers-awake-perplexed/ to a whole host of posters who seem only capable of typing phrases that all translate to “kill all wolves.” The irony of a biblical stewardship advocate condemning conservation biology as a green religion is sweet on some level, but viewing the number of people drawn to this site who define themselves, in part, by the weapons they carry or the animals they kill or hate should be deeply sobering.KOCH BROTHERS JUMP INTO THE FRAY

David Spady in a more typical costume.

As if the above was not enough, the California Chapter of Americans for Prosperity —a Koch Brothers founded and funded astro-turf front group—recently released a laughably deceptive anti-wolf video. In this piece Chapter Executive Director and Fox News darling, David Spady, dons a trendy ski cap and flannel shirt http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnYxeYuIBBU&list=UUcjRfKHBxX6RSgFAzYjLy3Q&index=4 in a transparent effort to exude an “everyman” appeal. And then in his manufactured casualness he spews scripted misinformation at a machinegun pace.

I am sure that some creative college student will design a drinking game around this video where sips are taken whenever Mr. Spady utters an untruth, makes a mistake or constructs an illogical statement in this propaganda piece. I would argue against this approach, because the exposure is dangerously high.

Certainly there are the obvious factual faux pas like claiming that cattle actually help reduce the impacts of climate change or that grazing does not impact water quality, wildlife and erosion rates. The mistakes are interesting too from confusing Oregon State University with University of Oregon and talking about something called “greenhouse warming” to claiming that the environmental community wants to recover wolves so that they eat cattle and curtail global warming. What?

The tortured illogic is entertaining as well particularly the argument about “trespassing” wolves. Trespassing is a human construct and all wildlife species are allowed to go where they go. Characterizing it as a threat to private landowners is expressly designed to push the buttons of the property rights crowd but is logically problematic as wolves in California are likely to focus their activities on large areas of public lands and tend to avoid settled areas. When searches are made for suitable wolf habitat, areas with people and roads are ruled out. It is also interesting given the shared roots of AFP and the Tea Party that AFP would carry the water for the heavily subsidized livestock industry.

THE HUNTING COMMUNITY MUST POLICE ITSELF TO SURVIVE

Roughly 6% of the US population over 16 years of age hunts. While that percentage rises sharply in rural areas where they sometimes close high schools on the opening day of deer season, it still means that 94% of the eligible population in the US does not hunt. In my mind that means that hunters—including myself—need to be very cautious that our “brand” is not compromised by yahoos like those profiled above who seem to shoot everything and think that Fair Chase and other hunter’s ethics do not apply to them or where predators are involved. Perhaps—if their goal is to continue to enjoy permission and support from the 94% non-hunters—legitimate hunting groups might want to work harder on mechanisms that focus on the quality of new hunters recruited rather than quantity.

In truth, while these “slob hunters” and thrill killers bolster hunter numbers they likely do more harm than good. On a related note, hunters also need to deal with the very real issue of poachers and poaching—which may or may not be related to these outliers and their utter contempt for science, Fair Chase, wildlife agency employees and laws. This situation is somewhat similar to issues that surround the martial arts field where the vast majority of practitioners enter martial arts training for the defensive reasons or because of the spiritual aspects of the discipline and there are those that gravitate towards martial arts because they want to be able hurt others. These anti-wolf folks have much in common with the latter example.

THERE REMAIN ETHICAL AND APPRECIATIVE HUNTERSAfter plowing through the ignorance and intolerance of the above group and their allies, it was refreshing to see a piece where the hunter involved http://theweek.com/article/index/234346/inside-the-mind-of-a-hunter appreciated his encounter with a competing predator and his first thought was not one of how he could blast it into the next county. Nor was he jumping forward to have himself photographed with his prey and speculating about which taxidermist to use or what wall space remained open. Regardless of how one feels about hunting, having this type of hunter in the field seems much preferable to one driven by hate.

With the Wolf the Federal Government Must Play Parent

Excerpt from Endangered Species Act:

To be considered for listing, the species must meet one of five criteria (section 4(a)(1)):

1. There is the present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of its habitat or range.2. An over utilization for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes.3. The species is declining due to disease or predation.4. There is an inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms.5. There are other natural or manmade factors affecting its continued existence. (Underlinging added)

I once met with a group of Japanese environmental activists visiting the US to gain insights. One of the concepts that was most difficult for them to understand was the interplay between state and federal governments. The analogy that finally worked with them and their interpreter was describing the federal government as a “backstop.” They were clearly baseball fans and got the analogy quickly. In retrospect I should have said parent rather than backstop because the federal government needs to be proactive rather than passive.

In short, the federal government has to act like the adult in the room. And with the wolf that means honestly addressing the damage that has been done by these folks and others who have worked diligently to sink the wolf recovery program under a mountain of myths and unfounded fear. These are hate groups and they need to be treated as such. Moreover, the damage they have done through their actions must be properly addressed and treated like any other habitat challenge. Yes it is difficult and these individuals and groups are dogged in their pursuit of a wolf-free world, but these anti-wolf efforts are “manmade factors” that materially affect the continued existence of the wolf.

While there can be debate about the appropriate legal mechanism to solve this serious issue it seems obvious that it needs to be federal or perhaps even international in nature; state performance on this issue has been largely inadequate as they seem more victims of the phenomenon than correctors. The state wildlife agencies are also driven by wildlife commissioners that often have political rather than scientific agendas which makes it unlikely that continued wolf recovery becomes a state priority . One promising approach that we are seeing in the European Union (EU) is something known as “favourable conservation status” which is applied to species of “community interest.” In the EU wolves fall under this classification and the status requires that the species are looked at across boundaries and that analyses such as minimum population viability analyses are undertaken and that those studies drive management.

We at Cascadia Wildlands are interested in this approach and are hosting a panel at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference here in Eugene at the end of February to explore this concept and also others to address the future status of wolves. Our own legal fellow Tamara Schiff will present a paper and hopefully some of the concepts introduced will help the US Fish and Wildlife as they complete their own examination of the future of wolves in the West. We know that no approach will ultimately be successful unless it includes aggressive and concrete steps to address the propaganda campaign that has been waged against wolves.

This photo touched a lot of nerves. It is now on at least five pro wolf blogs, Earth Island Journal, Howling For Justice, Exposing the Big Game, The Wildlife News, Stop Wolf Hunts, and is used for this petition https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/UNTIL_THE_STATE_OF_WYOMING_HALTS_WOLF_HUNTING_WE_CALL_FOR_A_BAN_ON_WYOMING_TOURISM/Wonder what the original posters to their Facebook page, two Wyoming hunting outfitters, Colby and Codi Gines are thinking now?The Gines run CG Wilderness Adventures, headquartered in a highly remote part of Wyoming’s Bridger Teton National Forest, bordering on the southeast section of Yellowstone National Park. “Wyoming is God’s country, and we invite you to come see it for yourself,” says the Gines’ website.The photo was here, but they removed it. http://www.cgwildernessadventures.com/ Wonder why?

by RALPH MAUGHAN on OCTOBER 28, 2013 93 COMMENTS · in ACTIVISM, POLITICS, PUBLIC LANDS, WILDERNESS/ROADLESS, WOLF HUNT, WOLVES, WYOMING, WYOMING WOLVES, YELLOWSTONE WOLVESThe Facebook photo has gone viral. It drips with symbolic hostility and one actually dead wolf. Now the photo has been taken down on Facebook, but you can see it many places in case it hasn’t already been emailed to you. We received a half dozen or so by email. Our experience is hardly unique.This article, “Sorry, But Wolf Slaughter Is Not American” in Earth Island Journal, has a nice clear version of the photo and a plausible analysis of the meaning of the Facebook posting. It is odd that the men are masked because the Facebook page was apparently easy to find. It wasn’t hard to identify the names associated with the page.The photo does have the air of the Ku Klux Klan, but it also has an American, not a Confederate flag. The dead wolf was probably legally killed in the current Wyoming wolf hunt. Put all these things together, however, and it really pushes people’s “buttons,” judging from face to face opinions and comments on Facebook. Why did they do it? It certainly isn’t going to win converts.To this writer, the area near the SE corner of Yellowstone Park in the Teton and Washakie Wilderness is sacred country. I wrote two backpacking guides to the area and must have backpacked a thousand miles. It makes my skin crawl and my blood pressure rise to think of these people polluting the deep Wilderness there.

ABOUT THE AUTHORRalph MaughanDr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University with specialties in natural resource politics, public opinion, interest groups, political parties, voting and elections. Aside from academic publications, he is author or co-author of three hiking/backpacking guides.

93 Responses to what are we to make of the masked, american flag holding, wyoming wolf killers?Matthew Durrant says:October 28, 2013 at 10:11 pmThis is very disgusting and very troubling. To me this represents the attitude behind the whole extreme right/Tea Party/redneck-kill-everything-that-moves mentality. This climate of extreme behavior (and outright idiocy) is what threatens the stability and peace of our nation more than anything we have faced for a long time. Wolf hatred, Obama hatred, obstructionism, corruption, public land grabs, and general hatred of the government of this country are all symptoms of this same disease. I’m surprised they aren’t holding up a Confederate flag.REPLYJeff N. says:October 28, 2013 at 11:07 pmSo much symbolism here. And, as mentioned, this is more than about just wolves. The wolf is clearly symbolic to these delusional degenerates….the dead wolf symbolizes the slaying of the government, east coast liberals, “San Francisco” values, etc….These intellectually stunted faux weekend warrior-vigilantes have been fed and eagerly “wolfed” down the daily platter of sh!t that the right wing media enjoys serving up to its gullible audience. This information comprises the extent of their education on matters.There is a weird, unhealthy perversion on display here. An unsettling bloodlust and lashing out. These mental midgets see a country evolving and leaving them behind and it scares the hell out of them. So they go out into the woods and play there destructive games, then head back to the tavern and drink themselves into self congratulatory oblivion, pass out eventually wake up only to, painfully, come face to face with their pathetic, worthless existence…again.Rinse and repeat.REPLYavatarMtn Mama says:October 28, 2013 at 11:07 pmThe picture is truly worth a thousand words.It reflects the desire to dominate and attempts to justify the desire as a reflection of patriotism. American Al Queda, modern day Klan. I have little doubt that all these kronies are sexist and racist too. Power tripping over killing wildlife.I think I will print off a copy and send it Sally Jewell.REPLYIda Lupine says:October 29, 2013 at 6:44 amPlease do!REPLYNancy says:October 29, 2013 at 9:10 amHere is the contact information for the DOI:http://www.doi.gov/public/contact-us.cfmIf you have an opinion, thoughts, concerns, let Jewell know.REPLYCris Waller says:October 28, 2013 at 11:17 pmAs I mentioned in the news thread, Americans for Prosperity and the Koch brothers are now involved in tying hatred of wolves to hatred of big government (see the documentary they are promoting at http://wolvesingovernmentclothing.com/)It’s frightening how easily so many are caught up in such delusions and such violent symbolism.REPLYJeff N. says:October 28, 2013 at 11:25 pmFrom the documentary link:• Indian tribal lands invadedAre they referring to the settlement of America?REPLYMJ says:October 29, 2013 at 12:38 amThere seem to be a lot of “veiled” references by wolf hunters to the fate of Native persons and culture. Many comments and expressions being used now referring to the wolves were used during the extirpation of Native persons also.I think what this picture says to me that is so disturbing is that we haven’t gotten past the days where there is complicity on a level that laws can be broken, killing to the horror of many can take place, all in broad daylight, by the “brotherhood”. And we can’t stop it. That is the implication of this image to me.REPLYavatarMJ says:October 29, 2013 at 1:19 am“Indian tribal lands invaded”I think that they are referring to the BLM and agents of the government coming on to Navajo land and taking privately owned horses, it made the news a few months ago as they were very aggressive towards the owners of the horses. It left people pretty angry.This is NOT a Native site however, it is a fear mongering wolf hating site. A Native site would be likely pro-wolf and the wording would not be like that. It is annoying that the most racist groups like to make comments that when they kill wildlife they are just doing “what the Indians used to do”. The degree of spin is almost toxic.The kid cages look like heat shelters on a horse ranch. It’s scary what people will believe.REPLYavatarMJ says:October 29, 2013 at 12:41 amWow. Thank you for sharing.REPLYavatarPeter Kiermeir says:October 29, 2013 at 3:00 amWhat can one/you/we do? Such things make you angry. When you see such things, you grow tired, frustrated and burnt out. Because you know all too well that this is the other side of the coin. The dirty part of carnivore conservation. And you meet it all too often. Everywhere, not only in Wyoming or Montana or Idaho or New Mexico. It could be really extreme in the West, but you meet it everywhere where you find carnivores. They laugh at, they degrade, they hate and easily kill what you want to protect. Be it a Wolf, a Bear, a Coyote, a Fox, a Lion, a Tiger, a ………How many of these websites are out there and how many of these people? Browse that site and you´ll find silly jokes about wolves: “want a sandwich? No I´m stuffed! Hahaha” Normally a funny joke – but not in the context of this site! Read the comments attached to the individual posts and remember the heyday of the Billings Gazette´s comment section before it implemented stringent rules?In the case of these masked heroes, I think the dead wolf came into the pic because wolf was available. It could as well have been a bear or a cougar or a couple of coyotes. The message of the pic seems not “America is cleaned of wolves” but “Who rules America?”What can one/you/we do? I would say: Nothing! These people would not even understand, what you are trying to tell them!REPLYavatarNancie Mccormish says:October 31, 2013 at 12:33 amPeter, “Be it a Wolf, a Bear, a Coyote, a Fox, a Lion, a Tiger, a ……… horse. Only these brave guys/gals aren’t even bold enough to claim their kills:http://wildhorsepreservation.org/media/rewards-offered-oregon-wild-horse-shootingsI would not be surprised if those who kill wolves for sport are the same who kill wild horses like this.REPLYNancy says:October 29, 2013 at 5:34 amPeter – somone who did say something:http://wiwildlifeethic.org:80/2013/10/25/dnr-denial-and-more-hate-i-mean-humor-from-the-blood-sport-capital-of-the-united-states/REPLYIda Lupine says:October 29, 2013 at 6:37 amQuite possibly the ugliest thing I have ever seen. What’s even more disturbing is how little our country’s people seem to have progressed. We can’t live in an idealistic bubble about how people view wildlife and other things by weakening laws that protect them because ‘people will do the right thing’. They won’t.REPLYIda Lupine says:October 29, 2013 at 6:49 amThat should read – other things like the EPA and the environment, OSHA, FDA, etc. etc.REPLYMJ Graham says:October 29, 2013 at 7:59 amI also posted on this unfortunate display of ignorance and seeming cowardice. Our wildlife and wild land policies which are funded by and, therefore, cater to the sport hunting and trapping industry are a major part of the overall problem. We continue see the erosion of science-based policy due to the influence of those that fund the agencies through license fees and weapons taxes. This must change if we are to see a balanced approach applied within these agencies at both the state and federal levels. This Madness Must EndREPLYwyores says:October 29, 2013 at 8:01 amRemember a while back there was talk on this website of keeping track of companies that we should not support? This outfitter has a permit for summer trips in Yellowstone. I can guarantee most of his summer guests would be apalled.We don’t know if the wolf was take legally or not. I am contacting WG&F, NPS and BT National forest.In my NW Wyoming town- Shoot, shovel and shutup is casually talked about in the grocery store-about wolves and bears. I wish G&F was more active investigating and just more of a presence.Could just be talk- but as they say thier is truth in jest.REPLYjon says:October 29, 2013 at 8:19 amYou have to wonder, if this wolf was killed legally in WY, why are these psychopaths wearing masks? Wolf killers love posting their wolf kills to the public and don’t seem to have a problem with showing their faces.REPLYIda Lupine says:October 29, 2013 at 8:31 amMaybe they can be fired for encouraging hate crimes. Who would want to support a business such as this, in any way? I’m going to be very careful how I spend my money and where it goes when visiting the National Parks.REPLYMtn Mamma says:October 29, 2013 at 9:00 amIt is a moot point on legal vs illegal kill. This is taken in Wyoming- most of the state is shoot on sight, any time, any place, any reason. Even in management units quotas are not enforced. WMU 2 which is used almost exclusively by YNP wolves had a quota of 4. 5 were taken and WGF said that’s just how their reporting system works. My point is that in Wyoming no one will be prosecuted for anything wolf related.REPLYjon says:October 29, 2013 at 8:13 amMy guess is they’re psychopaths and they love killing. That picture shows the truth about the kind of people wolf killers are. They are not conservationists. I would be willing to bet all of those guys in the picture who are so scared to show their faces are conservatives and most of them if not all are tea party supporters. Conservatives think of wildlife as nothing more than shooting targets, not god creatures.REPLYjon says:October 29, 2013 at 8:17 amThe psychopaths in the picture are clearly subhuman. These people are a fringe who probably suffer from a mental illness.REPLYwyores says:October 29, 2013 at 8:56 amWYO Outfitters Code of EthicsThe following Code of Ethics is hereby made a part of these By-Laws and is imposed upon all members of this Association and will be subscribed to by all eligible persons prior to being accepted into membership in this Association.Members will endeavor to promote and practice responsible wildland ethics and exercise good stewardship of our natural resources. There shall be full cooperation between members of the Association. Prior use rights, camp sites, grazing privileges and other existing practices of members will be respected by fellow members and their employees. Members of the Association and their employees will be required to fully cooperate with the Wyoming State Board of Outfitters and Professional Guides officials, Wyoming Game & Fish Commission officials, United States Forest Service officials, National Park Service officials, the Bureau of Land Management officials, State Land officials, and other government agencies; and fully adhere to their laws, rules and regulations. Members will be required to maintain good, adequate and serviceable equipment. Rates and accommodations will be clearly and carefully defined to guests prior to booking. Members will not misrepresent their rates, services or accommodations. Members will always endeavor to employ an adequate number of well-trained, courteous personnel to care for their guests. Members will provide adequate and well-prepared food to guests and personnel at all times. Members’ camps will be kept in a neat, orderly, good state of repair at all times, and shall be so maintained to be a credit to this Association. If livestock is used, members will treat them humanely and maintain their saddle and pack stock in good condition by feeding a balanced ration for the work being done. Members will conduct their business in an ethical manner. Members of the Association and their employees will be required to cooperate with land owners/stockmen and the public with respect to their rights and privileges. Failure of any member to abide this Code of Ethics will subject himself to reprimand, suspension or expulsion from this Association.REPLYIda Lupine says:October 29, 2013 at 9:10 amUnder the points of agreement, the State of Wyoming will develop and implement a wolf management plan to maintain a healthy wolf population at or above the Service’s recovery goals, provide for genetic connectivity with other wolf subpopulations in the Northern Rockies, and otherwise ensure that gray wolves in Wyoming are managed so that they will not need to be returned to the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife.Salazar-Ashe Finalize Agreement With Wyoming on Revised Gray Wolf Management PlanSomehow, I don’t think this is what they had in mind.REPLYCodyCoyote says:October 29, 2013 at 9:36 amI’ve recieved this pic a half dozen times from various sources in and out of Facebook.The best description I heard of it not related to Neo-KKK was a bunch of Wyoming college frat boys out on a baeer-pweored romp with their Daisy BB guns. They killed a stray dog, then took a team ‘ hero’ photo wearing their own stinky underwear for masks.So no matter how you parse it, these lads have done sport hunting , wildlife ethic, and big game conservation no favors at all. None. Nada. Zip.If you really wanted to defame your own big game outfitting profession and cast aspersions on your ilk, you really can’t do it better than this…( Never mind they profane the American flag doing so )REPLYDawn Rehill says:October 29, 2013 at 10:11 amCrazy, a guy last week here in Jackson, Wyoming, parked his SUV on the town square with a dead wolf strapped to the top . Didn’t cover it up, which I thought was the law .Alot of outrage from out of state about this . By the way, he parked there so the wife can go shopping, instead of taking the female wolf directly to Game and Fish . What the hell are some people thinking .REPLYavatarIDhiker says:October 29, 2013 at 12:48 pmDawn,That’s the problem…they don’t think. There are numerous levels of conscious thought and most people are near the bottom, just thinking enough to survive, but nothing above.Many on this site are higher level thinkers. For them, it’s very difficult to imagine the lack of thought of those at the bottom. Most people are created fairly equally, but they don’t develop the same.REPLYNancy says:October 29, 2013 at 1:11 pm+1REPLYrork says:October 29, 2013 at 10:34 amI think some stuff like this is a reaction designed for animal-lover anti-hunter consumption. There’s lots of commentary near me designed to press the buttons of people who our wolf killers here would paint as idiot, liberal, eastern, reality-challenged, city-dreck.And our comments – psychopaths, subhuman, sexists, racists, worthless existance, tea partiers – are pressing other people’s buttons. But we’re oh, so much better. And don’t tell me it’s only applied to these particular people, cause it happens every day, even for stuff like mute swan removal. If you are an idiot and tired of such thing, you do stuff like our picture takers today (oh, and you know for sure you are right about everything – often wrong but never in doubt).I’m not trying to defend, just explaining how stupid does. I certainly mean the guys like in the picture, but I may mean you too, dear reader.REPLYNancy says:October 29, 2013 at 11:09 amRock – what’s your take on this pic? Do you think with just a little more chewing, magnificent creature, might just have gotten away with his life?https://www.facebook.com/WisconsinWolfHunting#!/photo.php?fbid=548538351905665&set=a.252323221527181.58591.252321041527399&type=1&theaterREPLYrork says:October 30, 2013 at 6:30 amI have no idea if this wolf needed to be killed, but I’ll guess not. I live in MI where I want pros to be the ones killing problem wolves, and sad to say, that might involve trapping.Mostly what struck me is how scared many commenters were, that some think that since wolves do terrible things to their prey that it’s OK to be terrible to them, and how many are mostly worried about deer numbers even though I’ll bet most honest biologists would agree there are too many deer almost everywhere around the great lakes. We need to educate about those things, and thoughts like it’s such a gorgeous or amazing creature won’t counteract their thinking. They see something very different.REPLYIda Lupine says:October 30, 2013 at 6:36 amThere are times when management will be needed, I agree. But this is just crazy!REPLYJB says:October 30, 2013 at 6:37 amOne of the problems here is the historic baseline. Michigan is practically overrun with deer, and many who hunt (especially younger hunters) can’t remember it any other way. To them, this is normal fewer deer will be perceived as bad. I’m not sure how to overcome this…?REPLYImmer Treue says:October 30, 2013 at 6:45 am“younger hunters) can’t remember it any other way. To them, this is normal fewer deer will be perceived as bad. I’m not sure how to overcome this…?”Which feeds into the myth ( even in MI, and WI), that “reintroduced” wolves are a government plot to end hunting and ultimately take away guns.REPLYrork says:October 30, 2013 at 11:17 amI saw Randy Baker (knowledgeable, but I don’t know much about him) speak about deer last night. He harped on their overabundance, and some folks in camo may have squirmed while I nodded constantly. Anyway, a thorough accounting of the costs of too many deer are needed.He showed pictures of deer exclosures that looked like another world compared to the surrounding grotesquely simplified landscapes – I suspect they might be from parks lacking deer killing though (or from northern lower MI 20 years ago, same thing). He posited effects on very many plants and animals including pheasant (direct predation of eggs too), every other upland ground-nesting bird, mice (and their predators), whippoorwill, squirrels, other herbivores, and on. Decrease in deer carrying capacity – shooting your own foot. Ticks! Other parasites. Damage to every flavor of agriculture – that might be huge money. Timber people are getting vocal. Car insurance might save 50 million per year here if we can half the crash rate. I’m scared about calamities in our plant communities – this is a dangerous game. I think that what my DNR thinks are good targets for #deer are in fact still unsustainable – and they are supposed to be experts dam it.Can I get communities to say 33% (maybe needs to be 50%) less money from deer hunters would be an acceptable price to pay for such benefits? There might be effects on land prices north of me too. (The license money talks too, but is far smaller than the other money spent – I’ve been shocked by the estimates of the total economic activity, >2K/hunter/year, just about deer.)REPLYImmer Treue says:October 30, 2013 at 11:59 amrork,Kudos to you and everything you said. Many “deer” hunters don’t want to hear this, because the deer “belong” to them. I can attest to the fact that deer are making it very difficult for the generation of white and red pine up here, which contributes to the proliferation of balsam fir.I saw a presentation last night from the MN DNR about their moose study (adult and calf). A perfect storm is hitting moose across the upper north central portion of the continent. The supposed expansion of moose into the Dakotas and other states is for the most part fallacy.A point was made about deer and their prolific breeding, something that moose just don’t do.In the MN moose calf study, of 49 collared moose calf, at least 9 were immediately abandoned by their mothers, and 2 shortly later, and died. Of the 24 moose calves killed, 16 where killed by wolves, 4 killed by bears and 4 unaccounted for.Headlines read “Wolves Kill Majority Of Moose Calves”Not so, perhaps the majority of moose killed (which is little surprise), but not the majority of moose calves.One of the hunting proponents in the crowd commented in regard to wolf predation on moose calves, that perhaps more wolf tags should be issued in moose country. Though wolves do impact moose calves (they have always taken their share), its as if some factions of the hook and bullet crowd put on the blinkers in regard to all causes of moose decline up here, and the target is always Canis lupus.REPLYJeff N. says:October 29, 2013 at 11:24 amRork,Point taken but “Sticks and stones” my friend. Regardless of the legality, I’m not the one pulling into Jackson with a wolf strapped to my hood while my wife shops in town nor am I killing things out of spite so I can display my misplaced manhood in an unfortunate photograph.I think we all know “what stupid does”.REPLYImmer Treue says:October 29, 2013 at 11:46 amI’m pretty much in accord with what David Mech says, and has said, with one possible caveat. At least so far, wolf hunting has not released any steam from the pressure cooker in regard to wolves. With stuff such as what has been shown on this blog, isolated as they may be, the anti rhetoric has only increased from the “groups” referred to in this thread.REPLYavatarSaveBears says:October 29, 2013 at 1:26 pmI have been reading various websites around the net since this image surfaced and as expected they are getting the reaction they wanted.There are certain groups of younger people out there that just love to put stuff on the net that gets a lot of attention and creates turmoil. It does not have to be wolf hunting, I have seen it in many number of topic areas.The internet has allowed young people to get the attention they crave an there is always a willing group of people to give them that attention. I would estimate that the internet is good for only about 10% of the stuff we see, and the other 90% is just grandstanding by people on both sides of every single issue in the world.There is a saying that has been around for a long time now:“Love me, or Hate me, but just don’t ignore me!”REPLYNancy says:October 29, 2013 at 2:57 pmSB – I too have been reading various websites around the net since this image surfaced and I’m NOT thinking what’s being posted especially on this official WI site, is “young people” nor do I think “young people” are “liking” the site to the tune of 20,000 plus:https://www.facebook.com/WisconsinWolfHuntingRead the comments SB. Do you really think there’s a conspiracy of young people posting just to twist “a few panties in a knot” or… do you think those middle aged, white guys (thats what I’m seeing pic, after pic, after pic, holding up a dead wolf) are having a problem with REAL competition (wolfs :) in their neck of the woods when it comes to sharing the wilderness?REPLYSaveBears says:October 29, 2013 at 3:38 pmNancy,In that picture, I am seeing a bunch of guys with KKK type masks, I can’t tell you if they are “middle aged” or really even younger aged, all I know, is they got the reaction they were after!REPLYavatarJeff N. says:October 29, 2013 at 3:07 pmSB,Can you please point me to the websites where these attention seeking, misguided younger folk are hoisting carcasses 60-100lb. wolves. The ones I find seem to mostly consist of adult males.Thanks SB. Silly Kids.REPLYavatarSaveBears says:October 29, 2013 at 3:34 pmJeff,Remember we are an adult in this country, when we turn 18. At my age, I consider an 18 year, who has the right to own a gun and hunt by themselves to be “younger folk”REPLYSaveBears says:October 29, 2013 at 3:36 pmBut as I said, remember they are still and “Adult” I had many 18-19 years olds, under my command, that ran around with fully automatic state of the art weapons, they also ran, the weapons systems and drove tanks!REPLYJeff N. says:October 29, 2013 at 3:51 pmOk…thanks for the refresher of when we are legally considered adults. But getting back to your post in question, you seem to be saying that younger adults are responsible for these photos, and I find most contain, to clarify so as not to confuse you, “middle aged” men…..which makes sense considering that most 18-19 year old young adults no longer hunt and spend a lot of time playing games on their XBox, and that most likely explains why most of these photos contain middle aged men, not young adults, as you claim.REPLYavatarSaveBears says:October 29, 2013 at 6:54 pmJeff,What you don’t realize, is the majority of 18-19 year olds, may not hunt, but guess what they do?????They will kill, given the opportunity, many teens in this country will KILL!Jeff N. says:October 29, 2013 at 8:36 pmSB,Really….So what you are saying is that in this country, the majority of 18-19 year old’s are killers? Can you provide evidence.What in the world are you talking about? What do the majority of that age group kill?avatarJeff N. says:October 29, 2013 at 8:44 pmSB,In all seriousness I appreciate your posts on here. I appreciate the incoherence and rambling. They make me laugh. Thanks bud.avatar Louise Kane says:October 30, 2013 at 9:40 amImmer unfortunately Mech was a strong proponent of hunting wolves and even went so far to say that hunting was necessary to allow people to vent their anti wolf feelings. If he is recanting now, its better than nothing but his words were used by many to legitimize the “need” for hunts. It was clear from the start what a flawed presumption that was and one that clearly deviated from the science that Mech was entitled to claim his expertise.REPLYImmer Treue says:October 30, 2013 at 11:16 amLoiuseThough wolf hunting was always supposed to be a piece of the equation, the “hopeful” presumption of a venting of anti- wolf feelings released through hunting, has thus far, indeed, been flawed.I debated with one anti-wolf individual in particular, he/she said the continued delay of wolf delisting has fed the venom directed at wolves. Possibly so, yet, the anti-wolf contingent has learned nothing from this process as the pendulum has swung so far to the “other” side. It is feeding grass roots efforts, where every episode such as this thread is documented.As a hunter has said about the picture associated with this thread, “is no good can come from either the picture, or the comments supporting it” with regard to hunters. The general public still supports hunting. Yet, how long before incidents such as this put a sour taste toward hunting in the public’s mouth? In a sense, the anti-wolf faction, inebriated with their current successes, are now the ones shooting themselves in the foot.Its going to take a long time before this whole mess levels out to where all the level heads in the middle can live with and accept fair wolf management, while those on the extremes continue to gnash their teeth.REPLYsnaildarter says:October 29, 2013 at 2:30 pmFor every action there is a reaction and I am grateful this has gone viral. There are a lot more people who know about the wolf slaughter now and wolf haters are disliked by a larger and larger group of Americans. Besides I suspect they are just trying to compensate for their small penises.REPLYramses09 says:October 29, 2013 at 2:37 pmlol – you got that right,about the small penises.Along with the very teeny tiny brains they have.REPLYavatarSaveBears says:October 29, 2013 at 2:40 pmThere you go snail, you did exactly the same thing, so predictable, just as they are.REPLYSaveBears says:October 29, 2013 at 2:43 pmBy the way, Slaughter would suggest they are in danger of going extinct again, which is a far ways from the truth. You guys are lucky, that you have a person like Ralph that allows this type of rhetoric to be posted.REPLYavatarAG says:October 29, 2013 at 7:21 pmSB, while i agree very much with the rhetoric, i seriously doubt that wolves are not in danger of going extinct(again!). 364 dead wolves in the end of october and it started in september, i think. That is such an agressive management and along with the attitude we see in wolf-haters, i doubt that wolves as a specie can survive in these states.REPLYramses09 says:October 29, 2013 at 2:33 pmAll great comments. Everything that I wanted to say …. has been said. It’s to bad we live in such a violent society, whether it be people or the wildlife that unfortunately that gets killed. My first reaction to that stupid picture was …. well, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Then it turned to anger. Then I thought to myself “what a bunch of f – - – - red-neck idiots.” I feel very helpless with the killing of all the wildlife. but especially with the wolves. The hatred of wolves is beyond my comprehension. I just don’t get it. I do know after spending time in Boise, ID. a few years back that it is taught (of course) & is definitely a generational thing.Sally Jewell makes me sick. I thought she would be a little more science based in her rulings, but I guess not. Money is what drives a lot of what goes on in Washington D.C. & that my friends is sad. Because if money is involved – we will never get anywhere, unless we stand together & keep on fighting for the wildlife that inhabits this country.Thanks again for all the great comments.REPLYavatar Ken Fischman, Ph.D. says:October 29, 2013 at 4:23 pmThe men with white masks, who proudly display our American Flag, along with a dead wolf, have, believe it or not , done decent people a favor by exposing who they really are (despite their masks).The symbolism, which they unconsciously display, is crystal clear. The image is almost identical to those I have seen of Ku Klux Klan members in various archives about lynchings. Just substitute for that wolf, a black man hanging from a tree limb, and you will see what I mean.I have been aware for some time that these people are projecting upon wolves their own fears and hatred for the unfulfilled lives they lead. The wolf though, is only a proxy for their hatred of the Federal government, and particularly of a black man who had the temerity to become the President of the United States of America.If a black person can be elected to be the most powerful person in our country, it only emphasizes the masked ones’ essential powerlessness. They can now take out their frustrations on an animal that no government official, either local, state, or national has the guts to stand up for. A perfect target – for cowards, equipped with high powered riflesWe may take scant comfort in knowing that this image is one of the last stand of the white supremacists in this country. As a man whose loving daughter-in-laws are Chinese and Korean, I fully understand the demographic revolution that is sweeping this country. The difference is that the masked men hate it, while there are those like myself, who look to it hopefully. It will be difficult to demonise “others” if your brother-in-law, granddaughter, or cousin is of their ethnic derivation.We are going through a difficult transition and will continue to see much pain inflicted on these animals, but we may take heart in knowing that this too, will pass.REPLYavatarNancy says:October 29, 2013 at 5:10 pmThanks Ken. Good thoughts, good words.REPLYIda Lupine says:October 29, 2013 at 8:15 pmBut why does the Administration let it go on? They were also a party to it for political gain. I don’t understand, and I’m not convinced it will pass or that the wolves should be sacrificed for human issues, a living thing that has nothing to do with our problems. It should be stopped by rational people, whatever the reason for it.REPLYIda Lupine says:October 29, 2013 at 8:20 pmRemoving protections for the lower 48, and the Southwest already champing at the bit to remove protections for the Mexican wolf! There is no compromise by the anti’s, and our government goes right along with it. It’s more than simply race, and it should be stopped and not a considered an acceptable trade-off.REPLYJeff N. says:October 29, 2013 at 8:47 pmNice post Ken…..the symbolism is certainly something that makes one contemplate and accept what you have stated.REPLYIda Lupine says:October 29, 2013 at 9:00 pmI think we give them too much credit. Symbolism may be a part of it, but what I see is they see themselves as rebels against government. Face masks aren’t always for the KKK. Whatever the reasons, wolves shouldn’t be a pawn in human race relations. Our government leadership should be leaders, and should step up and put a stop to it, especially if it is hate crime by proxy.REPLYJeff N. says:October 29, 2013 at 9:19 pmAgreed. The wolf certainly doesn’t just serve as a pawn in race relations. It may represent their every fear all wrapped up in one….race, government, shrinking employment opportunities, declining rural lifestyle based on what they have accepted as such….on and on. I certainly do not know what the driving force is.I can speculate.REPLYIda Lupine says:October 29, 2013 at 9:29 pmI know, I’m sure for some that is part of it – but these people have been pissed about the wolf reintroduction for decades, and have tried very hard to get them delisted again, long before our present Administration and economic recession. It seems to be a local thing, due to ranching? Everywhere else, people don’t know and could care less about wolves and wildlife. I don’t know which is more harmful.I expected it there, but was shocked at the Great Lakes, because I had read how MN was ‘so proud’ of their wolves and it seemed to be used as a selling point for tourism. Hypocrites.Here on the East Coast, where it’s more urban and paid less attention to, our wildlands are coming back and wildlife too. That’s why when I hear ‘out of sight, out of mind’ as being harmful, on the contrary, it sometimes allows wildlife to flourish.REPLYavatarjon says:October 31, 2013 at 8:09 amAs Tom Vilsack said, rural America is becoming less relevant and these people know it. They are scared to death of it.REPLYjon says:October 31, 2013 at 8:06 amThose masked men hate it because they are extremists. They represent the fringe minority and they cannot stand that the world is changing and it is changing in a way that these sick extremists don’t like. I will guarantee you that the psychopaths in this picture are most likely conservative, most likely support the tea party, and they hate the federal government. To them, the wolf is the federal government. These “sportsmen” have more in common with the KKK than one would think. No one can deny there is a group of sportsmen out there that have a deep deep hatred of natural predators like wolves, coyotes, etc. You see these type of sick people posting on all of the anti-wolf fb pages or websites you come across. People need to let the public know about these sick vile right wing extremists.REPLYMareks Vilkins says:October 29, 2013 at 4:34 pmI can add that such sentiments are shared in Europe as well – for example, in Latvia hunters are screaming about liberal European headquarters in Brussells and conspiracy against Latvian hunters by protecting wolves and lynxes who will empty our forests from any elk and deernevermind that ungulate populations are increasing for the last 15 years and now reaching theyr carrying capacityand one doesn’t know to laugh or cry when true believers are publicly threatening to start ‘rebellion’ and to kill wolves illegallyI even stopped to read Russian classics like Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky – it’s enough to listen hunters’ sermon to get some insight about human psychologyREPLYWolfy says:October 29, 2013 at 10:09 pmThe Bubbas in the picture are the shock troops of the Redneck National Coalition (RNC). It’s a volley in the real revolution-the redneck revolution – a conscience effort to dumb-down Americans to become good consumers by getting hooked on NASCAR, shopping at Wal-Mart, and believe in radical politics. I believe that high-fructose corn syrup has something to do with it. The Bubbas are taking over. They run the government from DC right down to the county council.REPLYMareks Vilkins says:October 30, 2013 at 6:14 amWhat are we to make of the masked, American flag holding, Wyoming wolf killers?as Wildlife agencies are short on federal dollars for wolf monitoring then to reduce their vulnerability to political and economical pressures at state level long-term improvement would be to collect substantial amount of money from non-hunter community … financial independence will allow wildlife managers to resist extremist pressuresREPLYJames says:October 30, 2013 at 6:54 amI have never posted here or anywhere else with regard to wilderness advocacy. However,the vile symbolism associated with dead wolves, masks and american flags denigrates a geography and ecosystem that is powerful and rejuvenating to many such as myself. Like Dr. Maughan, many of my travels for the last 33 years have involved the Bridger-Teton, Jackson, and Yellowstone area. My first visit was in 1980 with a month excursion into the upper Thorofare, Yellowstone, etc. In 1983, while camping at Bridger Lake, the ranger at Hawk’s Nest insisted that he heard the howls of wolves the previous winter while on assignment to shovel snow from the roof of the patrol cabin. I have rarely missed a yearly visit since, often visting three or more times per year.I am offended by the photograph which, in my mind, associates a spectacular wilderness area with racist tactics, ecological ignorance and right wing politics. As Dr. Fischman states the image communicates, ultimately, the rage of powerlessness with the dead wolf as the symbolic scapegoat. The analogy that comes to mind is that of a healthy pedestrian in a cross-walk purposefully strolling slowly to frustrate traffic. That’s all they have by way of power.Wolves, Elk, Mule Deer, wolverines, red squirrels, etc. could care less about about ideology or politics. The mountains, rivers, creeks, willows, Lodge pole pine, etc. are indifferent to masks, flags and hate.What matters, in a meta sense, is a functioning ecosystem that does not recognize the arbitrary boundaries of just YNP. Remove the salt licks (created intentionally by some outfitters) south of Yellowstone used to draw Elk from YNP and shoot them. I have seen these licks. Stop the indiscriminate slaughter of Grizzly Bears on gut piles associated with those kills. Stop killing wolves and other predators merely to accommodate ego, masculinity, fear, and bar stool ungulate management.Bullets have killed far more humans and children then bears or wolves in North America.Here is an idea: Why not purchase the big game allotments associated with the hunting outfits and/or book the hunts – and, then do not hunt. Follow the African paradigm of recruiting local hunters to be the protectors of wildlife. Create economic incentives to preserve instead of destroy. Photograph. Write. Meditate. Make art. September and October are awesome times to visit the area and ponder. Can you imagine a better writer’s workshop location than that of the confluence of Open Creek and the Thorofare River in September? I cannot.The local economy would benefit from an alternative revenue stream and OUR collective ecosystem would be protected. Though I cannot afford a “big game hunt,” I could, like many, chip in to dispose of one.These are just a few ideas. I apologize in advance for my ignorance on how hunting territory is allocated to permit holders. Can you purchase them? Is there a bidding process, etc.? Also, I do recognize that there are ethical hunters and outfitters that utilize the area, to you folks I apologize for this rant. Nevertheless, the image is such an affront to the idea of this region that rant I must.JamesREPLYIda Lupine says:October 30, 2013 at 9:25 amWhat a beautiful post – spot on and no need for apologies. Thank you.REPLYRita k Sharpe says:October 30, 2013 at 11:54 amThank you for posting, James.REPLYavatarKayla says:October 30, 2013 at 1:14 pmJames, Great Post! now loved what you say. And like you have been going into this Thorofare Country for years, since 1982.REPLYKayla says:October 30, 2013 at 1:11 pmThis photo is pathetic!!! This photo and attitude is Pathetic in my opinion! One can be against wolves but to stoop to this low of behavior is beyond excuse in my opinion!Now I have hiked back into this Thorofare Country for years. Now most of the outfitters I have met thru the years have been good people and they have treated me well. Some like Len Madsen (Yellowstone Outfitters) and John Winters (Two Ocean Pass Outfitters) are fine people. Now do know a little on these folks. They are Colby and Codi Gines out of Cody and a few years ago bought Ron Dubee Outfitter Camp up in Mountain Creek in the Teton Wilderness. I have never met the Gines so do not know who they are.But if this is there attitude, guess the days are over for me hiking in this country without any sort of gun or persona protection. Guess now will have to carry a gun sidearm for my own protection since I always hike by myself. And it won’t be for the wolves or grizzlies that I need protection from. But the protection that I will need is from these sort of people. This photos just gives me the creeps to no end. Despicable!!!REPLYWM says:October 30, 2013 at 2:21 pmYears ago, a Canadian communications futurist by the name of Marshall McKluen coined the phrase,”The medium is the message….”This was long before the internet. But his theories serve as a framework for analyzing the context of the internet posting of crap like this, especially on social media and themed websites. It’s got shock value, like so much of what we see and read on the internet; it tends to draw you in with raw emotion. It is also instantaneous. Within hours -even minutes- this photo became available to hundreds of thousands of people (millions?), it has generated knee jerk (I and I do mean jerk in a literary and figurative sense in several instances) responses. It also has staying power from instant re-publication capability, and nominal probability of being able to delete it completely from circulation. It lives on.Suffice it to say, these guys accomplished what they wanted. Got a message out, whether you agree/disagree with alternative interpretations of it or not.My take: Given where it appears to have originated, it is a simple message of, “This is America (their narrow interpretation influenced by where they live and you most likely don’t), and this is what we think of your federal wolves!”OK, so there are the flour bags/t-shirt scraps with eye hole masks. BFD.I also think it is young guys. Why? Well, if you look closely at the profile of each guy, with one exception they have square shoulders, and thin legs. Then there are the guys kneeling in the snow. A couple are wearing Stormy Kromer hats (recently popular with the young guys in the West, though more generally appealing to a broader age group in the Midwest). Not exactly what you would expect from the over 25 or 30 crowd. And if one examines the gun each is holding, you will see it is quite an assortment, and probably not the high end stuff. Each is of a completely different type – only one high power rifle with scope (the one most likely to take a wolf and the others not so much), single shot and a pump shotguns, a saddle gun, revolver, and maybe a .22 rifle or even a pellet gun. All this was likely taken on an impromptu basis for some kid’s gun closet (age 17-25), when one idiot likely said, “Let’s make a political statement with this wolf.”Had a long talk with one of my cop friends a detective, who has past experience with small communities and rural types. He says this would be just the kind of things a bunch of younger guys with time on their hands would do – it fits his profile assessment as a law enforcement type. That’s not to say there couldn’t be an older guy in the group, who has the same juvenile personality traits (chronological age is not always a fixed marker for behavior, according to him, and that guy(s) is probably a follower).It never ceases to amaze me how some here can instantaneously go to deep, dark places from times past, psychologically with just a few indicia. It strikes me this is because they WANT it to be this kind of thing, because it serves their own agenda, and would be disappointed if it was not.The medium is the message.REPLYImmer Treue says:October 30, 2013 at 4:28 pmWM,Well stated.Yet, during the Times in which we live, with social media as it is, one might expect what next? When does the ‘tipping point’ come into play? Who may try to outdo this “prank”.No good comes from it other than perhaps a few chuckles from those who are in the pictures. Do Rural denizens take pride I’m plinking road and DNR signs. When alcohol gets involved, things can get ugly pretty fast.In attached story about the ‘Ely 6′ there is a rumor a Chicago cop, who was packing, was among those harassed. Story has it he had gun out and would have used it, but he didn’t know how many fools were out there and did not want to jeopardize others.This happened a while ago, but the feelings continue to fester up here. Times change, yet there are those who continue to scratch at scans.http://m.startribune.com/?id=11591086REPLYImmer Treue says:October 30, 2013 at 5:59 pmScratch at scabs. Can’t blame that one on Bushmills.REPLYLouise Kane says:October 31, 2013 at 9:18 amBut its not just scratching at scabs, wolves are under constant assault and are being managed by states that allow the hate against them to fester and boil. instead of acting responsibly as public trust management agency the agencies themselves become complicit in the dirty treatment of wolves. This photo is traumatizing to me because it illustrates that anything goes in states like Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and Wisconsin and that the lack of laws to protect wolves emboldens some and its getting worse not better. If that image were of a dog those people would be serving jail time. The sentiment behind it, I think, is less FU than it is they think they are national heroes committing some worthy act. The wildlife agencies that ignore the multitude of these kinds of images are ignoring a trend in wolf killing, its gratuitous violence accompanied by a sense of entitlement by ignorant, hateful cruel people. No wildlife should have to live under the threat these people present. I was sent another image last night of a gut shot wolf with the tag red belly on it. The states should not be entrusted with wolf or carnivore management , in my opinion.REPLYImmer Treue says:October 31, 2013 at 9:33 amLouise,I agree with what most of what you have to say. Other than coyotes and prairie dogs, (one could throw in raccoons and skunks) few other mammals get the “goon” treatment.We can “yodel” all we want. In terms of this particular thread, the hooded boys did nothing illegal. Tasteless, but not illegal.Wolves were to be hunted and trapped all along. It is legal. Pictures such as the one in this thread, gone viral, do not help hunters, but is not illegal.I’d be much more concerned about the lint-for-brains who advocate the use of poison. If is a big word, but if one of those individuals could be caught in the act…REPLYIda Lupine says:October 31, 2013 at 10:22 amLouise, here’s to one less degenerate criminal roaming free:http://www.wickedlocal.com/quincy/topstories/x919101342/Puppy-Doe-case-puts-animal-abuse-laws-in-spotlightAn absolutely nauseating case of human cruelty:REPLYNancy says:October 30, 2013 at 5:05 pm“I also think it is young guys”WM – in the above article Ralph posted a link (Sorry but, Wolf Slaughter is not American) and on that link this outfitter is named as the one that posted that picture on their Facebook page:http://www.cgwildernessadventures.com/when you click on that Facebook page now, this is what you get:“The page you requested cannot be displayed right now. It may be temporarily unavailable, the link you clicked on may have expired, or you may not have permission to view this page”When you click on the outfitter’s page, lots of shining examples of past hunts come up (dead elk, deer, sheep etc.) but no mention of wolf hunts even though the area they offer to hunt, is within a few hundred yards of YNP. (read the Author’s Journal on the webpage)My guess would be – don’t want to offend or run off, those summer clients ($$) that make up a good part of business who come to view, not shoot, the wildlife :)While you’re on their website, look thru their photo gallery. A clearing, with the pack train lined up at base camp. Look familiar?And hats. See a few that fit, on heads that are young guys. The one that really stood out, in both shots, belonged to the guy, just behind the dead wolf holder – had a hat and then an orange, knit beanie on top of his hat.Bet they shot and brought a dead wolf in and then after a “few” around the campfire, decided to make a bizarre, statement the next morning about how things had gotten in that part of the state.REPLYavatarWM says:October 30, 2013 at 6:05 pmNancy,You might be on to something there. Lots of Stormy Kromer hats or close clones in that crowd. Maybe we should play a game of “Where’s Waldo?,” matching hats with mostly young faces to the same hats with flour sacks. I think I know where there might be a flag, too. ;)REPLYNancy says:October 30, 2013 at 6:22 pmWell you know what they say WM – if the “sack” fits……http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/in-possible-first-and-under-heavy-security-kkk-and-naacp/article_50271edd-04e9-5765-a05b-1d6297d25073.htmlREPLYsnaildarter says:October 30, 2013 at 4:26 pmFederal wolves? Sorry I’m not giving you that mis-characterization. Wolves are part of America’s heritage. We should be proud they have been restored to their rightful place in the Northern Rockies Eco-system. And they were restored by citizens who petitioned their Government to correct one of its transgressions. Exterminating them was bad science and primitive thinking; Thank god a more enlightened Government listened to the majority of Americans who like wolves.REPLYWM says:October 30, 2013 at 5:33 pmsnaildarter,Federal wolves – Absolutely. It is not a mis-characterization at all. That is precisely what they are by virtue of intervening federal legislation, the ESA (the listing > reintroduction and delisting dance is the mechanism by which they are federal wolves with continuing federal oversight). You may think mine is a subtle distinction, but I assure you under federal law it is not.Do remember not having wolves in some areas of the Country was largely the product of federal control programs, as in past Congresses passed laws and funded agencies to remove them, including removing them from Yellowstone NP. So, lack of wolves is ALSO part of America’s heritage, sanctioned by the federal government, noless. Not a very good legacy as some of us view it, but nonetheless part of our history as a sovereign country of states united under a central government. The federal government has done about-face turn-arounds on lots of topics over the years. That was what the ESA is all about, a turn-around.We have written a lot here about the ESA and how it works -or doesn’t- as well who “owns and/or manages” the wildlife within a state’s boundaries (including on federal lands, and the potential implications of the SCOTUS Kleppe v. NM court decision in 1976).The core NRM states would argue but for the federal wolf reintroduction in 1995 under the ESA non-essential experimental wolf reintroduction program under Section 10(j) of the lse, they would not have or tolerate wolves on private, state and some federal lands over which they have management authority (everything except certain types of reserves where they are specifically protected, such as national parks or some wildlife refuges and maybe even DOD facilities).Just playing devil’s advocate here, but can you name any state in the West or elsewhere that has wolves and has stated policy it WANTS more (as opposed to saying we will manage them when they come under the ESA or applicable state endangered species law), or name a state that doesn’t have them and is aggressively saying we WANT them to repopulate or be reintroduced? I didn’t think so.Like it or not, wolves are a political hot potato and politicians at the state level are avoiding the topic like the plague, unless they have a clear voter base to play to. And so are some Congressional types. “[R}estoration to their rightful place” as you suggest, may be a scientific basis to argue, but it is a rather subjective political statement.It seems in the short term, things are playing out even less favorable to wolves in some places than what some of us expected. When will the pendulum swing back, and why would it?REPLYLouise Kane says:October 30, 2013 at 8:11 pmWM here is a good commentary on the cowardly ass kissing politicians and federal agencies that ignore the escalating and extremely un-american treatment of wolves.http://e-edition.jhnewsandguide.com/PUBLICATIONS/JHNG/JHNG/2013/10/30/ArticleHtmls/The-New-West-Who-dares-confront-the-anti-30102013006011.shtml?Mode=1The pendulum must swing back because the treatment wolves receive under state laws is unconscionable and will be recognized as such.REPLYIda Lupine says:October 31, 2013 at 7:33 amGreat commentary. All the result of that shady backroom delisting, which set the tone. It would never have been able to pass above board, and they knew it.REPLYavatarjon says:October 31, 2013 at 7:59 amThanks for that great article. I see similarities between sportsmen who have a deep hatred of wildlife specifically predators and the KKK. Conservatives tend to be anti-government, anti-wildlife, anti-women, anti-environment, etc.REPLYCodyCoyote says:October 30, 2013 at 10:32 pmSo, the federal government was against wolves before they were for them.Never mind the extant wolves have been on the landscape they presently occupy for, oh , maybe 13,000 years give or take, except for about 75 years of that . An anomaly. Now corrected, somewhat…REPLYavatarWM says:October 31, 2013 at 7:32 am++ An anomaly, Now corrected somewhat….++Maybe, but it could be the federal government may not be “for” them so much for long, especially if the Western Governors have anything to say about wolves, the ESA and those who support the ESA and litigate against federal agencies and states in its present form.http://www.outdoorhub.com/opinions/western-governors-unite-on-need-to-update-the-endangered-species-act/http://grazingforgrouse.com/sites/default/files/2010%20WGA%20ESA%20Policy.pdfQuery: Does that paint all the Western states (there are 17) as a bunch of “ku klux kowboys?”What does it say for MI, WI and MN who have all had their own “issues” with the ESA, wolves and those who litigate under the act, and where states believe they are marginalized in favor of a federal law passed in 1973 by a bunch of folks in Congress who are no longer there?REPLYavatarJB says:October 31, 2013 at 8:37 am“What does it say for MI, WI and MN who have all had their own “issues” with the ESA, wolves and those who litigate under the act, and where states believe they are marginalized in favor of a federal law passed in 1973 by a bunch of folks in Congress who are no longer there?”I’m not entirely sure what you’re asking, WM? It seems you’re hinting at making a ‘states rights’ argument here? Are there some people that are pissed off by wolves? You bet! But the majority clearly want wolves–heck, if recent polls are to be believed the majority want them listed under the ESA. I can show you lots of farmers that don’t like deer (especially here in Ohio). What would wildlife management look like if we set management objectives for deer based upon the desires of farmers or insurance companies?The argument you appear to be making could come back and bite you in the a$$…REPLYavatarWM says:October 31, 2013 at 10:56 amJB,Insurance companies will do just fine with or without deer – they just raise the premium to cover the risk and still make their consistent and tidy profit. As for the farmers, who don’t like deer, if things get bad enough they can go to the state legislature or maybe even a county to present their problem and seek remedies, or even do a little self-help under the radar without breaking a federal law, it would seem. Federally listed wolves are a bit different, and when those affected ask for help some advocates get kind of pissy over any lethal assistance given by WS or a state wildlife agency. It is where the decisions are made and for whom those decisions are made that creates friction.What I am suggesting in the issue raised is that there is a severe disconnect between what citizens appear to say they want in polls (a populist snap shot and gut reaction to issues at a specific point in time), what they want and get at the state level as reflected in their state elected officials acting on their behalf, and what federal elected officials (Congress/Executive branch), also supposedly acting on what the citizens of their respective states, want in the form of federal laws in the interest of the United States as a country (things individual states can’t or don’t want to do on their own).It has been said before that, “Washington DC is 26 square miles surrounded by reality.” That statement has never been truer than today.The states’ rights arguments has already been made by the Western Governors (see their ESA resolution -its not working for them or apparently their respective citizens), the WGL core wolf states (see their petitions and legal briefs in the litigation with HSUS and a bunch of other advocacy groups), and a few others. I am just pointing out the obvious, that not all is in good order or in harmony in what is or would be wolf country, regardless of what polls seem to say. So how is it resolved?And, as Ralph has suggested before it’s not just people (or some states) being pissed off at only wolves; its a bigger issue of being pissed off at the federal government. Wolves (or maybe the ESA itself) are the symbols to attack. Some might see that in the kkwolf photo.Incidentally, you and I have discussed before the potential for inherent bias in polls merely by the way questions are asked, AND the failure to preface questions with adequate substantive background or proper context. So, I am always leary of poll results, including how summaries of often complicated poll questions and their results get used to frame issues and measure how people feel about them in a sentence or two by someone with a point to make.REPLYJB says:October 31, 2013 at 11:55 amYikes! Too many points here for me to comment on. I’ll stick to what I believe is the core issue; you said:“It is where the decisions are made and for whom those decisions are made that creates friction.”Exactly. Problem is, there is always someone more “local” who doesn’t want X (whether it’s wolves, a power plant, public land, a mall, etc.). Essentially, the choice is between central government that can (at least theoretically) act on behalf of all citizens, and local government, that acts on the behalf of a tiny, tiny fractions of citizens. And in each of these cases the NIMBY alarm is sounded, and all sorts of hyperbolas claims are made about the atrocities that will occur if local people are subjected to perceived hazard X. Essentially, the ‘let locals decide’ choice puts the good of the few ahead of the good of the many.—FYI: Michigan legislators represented their citizens by passing a law designed explicitly to prevent a ballot initiative that could have banned hunting of wolves, subverting democracy in favor of local desires. NIMBY appears to win even within the states.I wonder what will happen to hunting, wildlife, and conservation when local interests are dominated by large corporations? Oh right, never mind. ;)http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2013/10/28/masked-wolf-killers/

O

#stopwolfhunts The War Against Wolves and Wildlife: Time to Stop the Killinghttp://exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com/The War Against Wolves and Wildlife: Time to Stop the KillingPosted on October 28, 201315[Note: The identities of these wolf-hating villains behind the masks are said to be, from left to right: Former Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, Int. Sec. Sally Jewell, Pres. Barack Obama, Former Pres. G.W. Bush, along with his squad of goons, and Dick Cheney, who tagged along hoping to chalk up another hunting accident.]1384140_564330240283396_857016214_nArticle by Camilla Fox, Project CoyoteBy the time this blog goes live this photo will probably have been pulled from Facebook. The photo, titled “Wyoming is FED up,” is posted on the FB page, Sportsmen Against Wolves.As of October 26th the photo had 563 likes and 307 shares, after being posted for less than three days. The posted public comments are disturbing:“Love this!!!!! I fully understand the masks, yer not idiots like those daring you to show yer faces!!!! Keep on killing guys”“Smoke a pack a day”“Kill everyone you see boys!”What is perhaps most disquieting about the photograph is the vigilante feel that echoes a lynch mob — dehumanize, vilify, and murder. Wolves are now reviled and persecuted in a land where they once roamed wild and free prior to European colonization.While the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposes to remove federal protections for gray wolves through most of their historic range in the lower 48 States, blatant hostility toward wolves, coyotes, bears and other native carnivores has intensified. Like the photo above, the vilification of predators has taken on a new hue: one associated with righteous patriotism. But all true Americans should be concerned about this tenor of violence and hatred toward other living beings. What lessons are we teaching young people when we show such blatant disrespect and denigration of wildlife?…when “we” proudly post photos of men with their bloodied victims on Facebook and Twitter? (see this video posted on Facebook of a reported wolf being shot in Idaho — warning: graphic) and when our own federal government condones this violence and wanton animal abuse in its lethal predator control programs?Anti-wolf hatred fueled a 2011 Congressional rider that removed federal protections for wolves in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes thereby turning management over to the states in these regions. The result: In just seven days of this year’s wolf hunt in Wisconsin, 97 wolves were killed — about twice the pace at which wolves were killed last year, the state’s inaugural and very controversial wolf-hunt season. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources estimates the total state wolf population to be around 800 — and would like trappers and hunters to reduce the population to 350 — a number scientists say is not sustainable.At least 1,321 wolves have been killed by trophy hunters and commercial and recreational trappers in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho alone. Montana sold over 6,000 wolf-hunting licenses this season; each license — $19 for state residents — allows a person to kill up to five wolves. The current wolf population in Montana is estimated at 625. Wolf watching generates approximately $30 million annually to the towns around Yellowstone; the cost to reintroduce and recover wolves into the Northern Rockies was estimated to be more than $150 million. What is the value of a wolf alive — over the course of his or her lifetime — compared to one-shot dead for a $19 wolf-hunting license? Ethics of recreational killing of wolves aside, economics does not justify this insanity.Members of Congress, predator friendly ranchers, respected scientists have spoken out publicly against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposal to remove federal protections for wolves arguing that delisting is premature and is not scientifically sound. The Service has extended the public comment period regarding their proposal to delist wolves from the ESA and has rescheduled public hearings. If you want to see wolves in the wild please click here, take action, and make your voice heard. Then share this blog post with others. The Service will accept comments through December 17th. Check out Project Coyote’s homepage and Facebook page for more updates.Follow Camilla Fox on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/projectcoyotePosted in Wolves | Tagged "sportsmen", anti-wolf, wolf hunt, wolves | 15 Replies

O

Sorry, But Wolf Slaughter Is Not American by James William Gibsonhttp://howlingforjustice.wordpress.com/HOWLING FOR JUSTICEBLOGGING FOR THE GRAY WOLFSorry, But Wolf Slaughter Is Not American by James William GibsonFacebookphotoOfWolfhuntresOctober 28, 2013“Fed Up in Wyoming” reads the caption under this stunning photograph posted on a hunter’s Facebook page (reproduced here under Fair Use). The photo is yet more evidence that, two years after political reactionaries led a successful campaign in the House of Representatives and then the Senate to remove the North Rocky Mountain gray wolf from the endangered species list, the slaughter of wolves continues to escalate as wolf hunters fall deeper in their paranoid fantasy that the wolf represents a liberal conspiracy against rural communities.The Facebook page that originally posted the image belongs to two Wyoming hunting outfitters, Colby and Codi Gines. The Gines run CG Wilderness Adventures, headquartered in a highly remote part of Wyoming’s Bridger Teton National Forest, bordering on the southeast section of Yellowstone National Park. “Wyoming is God’s country, and we invite you to come see it for yourself,” says the Gines’ website.Their invitation evidently does not extend to wolves. Driven extinct in most of the continental US in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the wolf returned to the American landscape in 1995, when the US Fish and Wildlife Service reintroduced 66 wolves captured in the Canadian Rockies to Central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park. Conservationists saw as the return of the wolf as a crowning accomplishment to renew the wilderness, and millions of Americans came to celebrate the wolf’s comeback. But by 2009 a virulent opposition movement opposed to the wolf had formed. Made up of hunters and outfitters, ranchers, and far-right groups, these forces coalesced around a cultural mythology in which wolves became demons — disease ridden, dangerous foreign invaders — who served as icons of the hated federal government. (Read Cry Wolf, our in-depth report on this issue.)With the Klan-like hoods and the ostentatious display of the American flag, the photo is a glimpse into the mentality of those behind the anti-wolf campaign. There is, apparently, a cohort of people who view the destruction of wild nature as something to be celebrated, something quintessentially America. They are play acting at both patriotism and rebellion. And, in their play-acting, they reveal a great deal about the paranoid fantasies that have gripped some people in the age of Obama.The Facebook comments following the photo are especially revealing. Among those who LIKE this page is Sportsmen Against Wolves, a group whose “About” statement is, “Sportsmen against illegally introduced Canadian Gray Wolves.” Here’s one wolf-killing friend, J. Weeks, commenting on the photo: “Kill all federally funded terrorists. ” To some, the reintroduction of wolves represents Washington’s treason against civilization itself: “Yet another brilliant bleeding heart program…reestablish the bloodthirsty critter that every civilization form the dawn of time has tried to eliminate,” says Johnny W. To Sarah H., the wolf killing is just self-defense: “I imagine they don’t want any wolfies to come after them or their families!” Then Haines complained that only one had been killed — there “should be a pile of them tho!”The white hoods, with their echoes of Jim Crow-era terrorism, were actually celebrated by some commenters. “Redneck KKK” wrote Austin T. One fan, Julia G., argued that the wolf hunters should be more brazen, posting, “Next time they go full REGALIA.”For their part, the Gines prefer to call the hoods the sign of “Vigilantes,” a way of “Trying to make a statement!…Frontier Justice! Wyoming hunters are fed up!” John P. concurred, “Yeehaw…looks like modern day Wyoming rangers taking care of business!!!!!”Some commenters suggested that the wolf hunters wore hoods to protect themselves from government persecution. One supporter of masked men posted, “I fully understand the masks…Keep on killing guys.”It would seem that wolf hunting is the wildlife version of George Zimmerman’s vigilantism – self appointed keepers of order waging a battle against an imaginary enemy.Or maybe it’s worse, and the wolf hunters with their KKK masks are more like shades of Timothy McVeigh. The cammo gear, the rifles – it’s as if the wolf hunters were fighting a guerrilla war against Washington. As if they were worried that at any moment a US Fish and Wildlife Service black helicopter would swoop down and a SWAT team emerge, assault rifles blazing.But it’s a phony rebellion against a phantom menace. The wolves aren’t actually any danger to people or much of a threat to ranchers’ livestock. And the US government permits them to be killed. There’s no real transgression here requiring a mask. It’s all theater meant to self-impress.In April, 2011, the House and Senate sponsored a “rider” on a federal budget bill that removed gray wolves in the Northern Rockies from the protection of the Endangered Species Act. Here’s the very long story in short: Democratic Senator Jon Tester faced a rough challenge in the 2012 Montana election, and sacrificing wolves as expendable was deemed politically expedient to win the race. Wolf hunts renewed in Idaho and Montana that fall. Legal challenges by environmental groups against the delisting failed.Wyoming took until 2012 to win full federal approval for a plan to declare the lands near Yellowstone a “trophy zone” with wolf quotas. In most of the state, wolves can be killed year round without limits. The Gines’ hunting operation is in “Wolf Hunt Area 3.” In late October they reported killing two wolves, filling its quota of three wolves. Whether the wolf in this photo is one of the three legally killed is not known.The Northern Rockies have become an unsupervised playpen for reactionaries to act out warrior fantasies against demonic wolves, coastal elites, and idiotic environmentalists — the members of these latter two categories being “two-legged” wolves. The sheer extremity of the hatred shown to wolves, and the bizarre juxtaposition of the KKK-like hoods and American flag, plainly expose this movement for what it is: A scapegoating of the wolves by men and women who have succumbed to their own rage against imagined enemies. And while the failure of federal, state and local political leaders to denounce the anti-wolf movement illuminates their moral failure, history offers encouraging instances of public indignation creating change from below.Read the rest of the article @ Earth Island Journal: http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/sorry_but_wolf_slaughter_is_not_american/Photo: Earth Island JournalPosted in: Wolf WarsTags: James William Gibson, Earth Island Journal, wolf hate, wolf persecution, Wyoming disgrace, Northern Rockies

O

HUNT THE HUNTERS HUNTING LICENSES

by Exposing the Big Game

Satire, by Jim Robertson

(with a nod to the late Cleveland Amory, author of Mankind?: Our Incredible War on Wildlife and founder of the Hunt the Hunters Hunt Club)

In a comment on one of the many tragic hunting accidents I’ve blogged about lately, a gentle reader mentioned there should be a hunt the hunters hunting season, to which another compassionate soul replied, “I’d contribute to that.”

We’ve all heard (ad nauseam) hunters boast that their license fees pay for wildlife programs, implying that it entitles them to kill the subjects of their alleged generosity—of course hunters don’t contribute out of the kindness of their hearts or their profound love for living animals. This got me to thinking we need a non-hunter license and tag system that emulates hunter tags, to finally put to rest this notion that hunters alone pay for wildlife through their consumptive use licenses. There have been some good ideas out there about this; people have floated the notion of a non-hunters duck stamp, for instance, but those have yet to really take off.

Perhaps it’s because non-hunters wouldn’t get anything tangible for their money. Sure, they could bring back a photo or wonderful memories of the amazing wildlife they saw at a quiet slice of heaven preserved for the wild non-human species of the Earth. But how does that really compare to the kind of meaty trophy a hunter takes home with him? (Sorry, or her; I keep forgetting that women are now being lured into the blood sport.) Hunters can pet and fondle the bodies of their dead victims, and even ingest certain parts they don’t plan to mount on the wall.

The only way a non-hunter can have such a tactile experience is if they can actually bring their “harvests” home with them. Granted, a human carcass doesn’t have the popular appeal of say, a mounted deer, elk, moose, goose, sheep or bear, but to the one who made that good, clean kill shot, it’s a symbol of their prowess and their mighty-yet-selfless effort to thin the hunter herd.

Fortunately, state game departments have given us a model to go by. State residents’ licenses would be kept at an affordable price, while out of state hunter hunters would have to contribute more to the coffers. Logically, someone would have to be hired to insure there were plenty of hunters out there to harvest; and who better for that job than the experienced wildlife “managers.” After all, they’ve been doing their darnedest to recruit more hunters for years now.

Tags for different breeds of hunters could emulate hunting tags for specific non-human animal species. (For those unsure of which sub-species of hunter they’re aiming at, watch for the post, “A Field Guide to North American Hunters” coming soon.) Obviously a tag for the average Elmer would cost less than a tag for a globe-trotting trophy hunter.

Since they’re among the most sadistic, and are the least likely to lay down their weapons and make peace with the animals willingly, out-of-state hunting licenses to hunt wolf hunters will hereby be reduced from $250 to $50. And wolf hunter tags for residents will be similarly underpriced at around $15, since the goal is ultimately to eliminate that breed altogether.

Today I happened across a purportedly wildlife author/researcher/writer's site that makes several false allegations against the current state of wolf occupancy within the North American continent. I am shocked and appalled that such a person would be taken seriously, given his lack of research, his lack of writing skills, and his lack of control over his emotions. But then the level of intelligence of wolf haters is not that great, now is it? That facts should be fairly obvious to the thinking person. These wolf haters belong in the same category as climate change deniers and creationists; in short, they can't think their way out of a paper bag and I'm surprised they don't drown when it rains.

But I digress... this "author" states that Defenders of Wildlife is "pimping" wolves; he states that DOW wants to put a wolf in everyone's backyard. He also refers to wolves as disease infested canines that endanger the lives of people and pets. His main argument is that DOW is promoting wolf occupancy in the state of Maine where they haven't been (according to his research) for 100 years and that if wolves are returned to Maine that the "fragile ecosystem" would be destroyed. This "author" conveniently omits any concrete evidence to back up his claims, but then the crowd to whom he preaches doesn't need any. The word of a good old boy with a reputation for hunting anything with four legs will do.

And that bit about wolves eating pets? Come on... explain to me why you hunters out there are using your dogs to hunt wolves?? And anyone with any common sense knows not to walk your dog where wolves live. It's THEIR home-not yours or your dog's. Oh, and when was the last time you heard of a person attacked by a wolf? What was that you said? Little Red Riding Hood? I thought so. There are infinitely more deaths by sharks throughout history and yet no one is thinking of eradicating these giant fishes from the sea, or people planning to stop swimming and surfing and boating. If the sea is the shark's domain, then why so murderous of wolves in their traditional forests?

But wait... there's more.

The DOW does not want to promote wolves in areas where human habitation is in the thousands or millions. Wouldn't that situation be seriously stupid? The DOW does want to restore the wolf to his native hunting grounds and yes, Maine is one of those states. The blogger states that there is no food source for wolves to eat, since the caribou have all gone north. Oh wait. There's deer and moose in Maine. Hmm. He must have forgotten that fact. And also, the blogger must have forgotten that the wolves would still be thriving there had Theodore Roosevelt not declared the wolf as "the beast of waste and destruction" and called for its eradication during his administration. Well then, I suppose the blogger forgot who messed everything up in the first place and mistakenly blamed everything on the wolves.

This "author" also blames the wolves for spreading hydatid cysts in moose in Maine. Unfortunately, I have spent a lot of time tracing where these Echinococcosis tapeworms originated and here's the gist of what I have found. The worms originally infested livestock in Europe. The life cycle of these worms requires two hosts: the first host is a carnivore, namely a wolf, coyote, or dog and the second host is an herbivore.Those European ungulates that were infected? The dogs did the deed. In North America, nowhere is it written that the wolf is the sole vector for these worms. Sure, the wolves can have them, but then so can all the coyotes and all the stray or coy dogs. Think the author might have a proverbial ax to grind where wolves are concerned?

One last thing that the author insists is that wolves have wiped out the natural herbivorous population in the state of Maine. Gee. So the hunters have had nothing to hunt there for the past 100 years? Then how the hell do you explain that in 2011, 18,839 deer were harvested by hunters in Maine and the remaining deer were still quite populous?

Yeah, that's why I'm thinking, too, but let's spell out why these outrageous and libelous claims are believed. Either the "author" is an idiot, a liar, or lives in a fantasy world. But when he makes his claims on science, he figures me to be an idiot, too, and that's downright insulting. This is the type of person we have to fight in order to protect the wolves' right to live and flourish again. This is the type of person who propagates ignorance in the minds of those who trust people who remind them of themselves. It is a quite jolly circle of the foolish, but that's how it is. Where science is treated as gibberish, the truth will become diseased and turn into the same.

When people asked Flannery O'Connor why she wrote the type of fiction that she did, she replied in kind that in order for the deaf to hear, one must shout. This is me shouting. Is anyone listening?

Lin

PS If you want to read the original post that angered me so much, then here it is:

OWHAT NEEDS TO BE SAID, OTHER THAN IF WE DON'T GET FED PROTECTIONS, THIS IS WHAT WILL HAPPEN. AFTER THAT? WE WILL BE TALKING ABOUT THE GREAT GRAY WOLF EXTINCTION OF THE 21ST CENTURY. NO SHIT.NO EXAGGERATION.THE WOLVES CAN'T SURVIVE THIS ONSLAUGHT FOLKS.THEY WILL NOT RECOVER THIS TIME IF WE CANNOT PROTECT THEM FROM STATE LED WOLF MANAGEMENT OF IDAHO, MONTANA, WYOMING, WISCONSIN, MICHIGAN, MINNESOTA.A LOT OF THESE PHOTOS ARE FROM CANADA, WHERE THEY ALLOW WOLF HUNTING, LIKE WE DO WHEN THE WOLVES ARE DELISTED FROM THE E.S.A. CANADA IS WHERE WE GOT OUR WOLVES FROM FOR THE USA GRAY WOLF RECOVERY PROGRAM. WE HERE IN THE USA DO A BETTER JOB OF HUNTING WOLVES INTO OBLIVION THAN CANADA DOES.GREAT.WHAT A CLAIM TO FAME.

EXTINCT IS FOREVER, AND THAT IS NOT JUST A BUMPER STICKER.

O

WHY ARE WE PAYING FOR LOST LIVESTOCK THAT IS THE RANCHER'S RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT WITH BOTH THE DEATH OF WOLVES AND FEDERAL TAX DOLLARS FOR COMPENSATION?

ISN'T THAT "DOUBLE BILLING"?Photo credit: The Eyes by njchow82 on Flickr

MONTANA'S LIVESTOCK LOSS BOARD RECEIVES $170,000 FOR WOLF PROTECTION

By Jon King September 6, 2013 6:17 PM

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced that it would send a one-time payment of $170,000 to the Montana Livestock Board to help cover losses due to wolf predation. On Friday, September 6 the Livestock Loss Board’s Executive Secretary George Edwards was at a meeting in Choteau to discuss how the money should be spent.

“Some of the types of projects that they’ve shown a high interest in is carcass removal programs, similar to what’s been done by the Blackfoot Challenge over at Ovando,” commented Edwards while on break during the meetings. “In that area, they’ve been able to reduce losses by wolves and grizzly bears by over 90 percent, so it’s proven effective.”

There will be $100,000 spent on prevention programs, potentially similar to other carcass removal pilot projects. The rest will be spent on reimbursement for losses. Edwards said that the current way reimbursement is handled is very limited.

“When it comes to wolves, we only pay for a very tiny portion of actual loss,” Edwards said. “We pay for death loss only. The larger impact to the livestock industry is stress on animals: they don’t gain weight, they have their heads up instead of eating, and they’re more aware of what’s going on around them. Weight loss can be huge… you’re talking millions and millions of dollars in economic impact.”

Montana’s Livestock Loss Board was put in place in 2007 to monitor and compensate ranchers for the loss of livestock to wolf predation.

So far this year, the Livestock Loss Board reports that there have been filings for 76 animals that had been preyed on by wolves for a total of over $60,000 in reimbursement.

REFORM WILDLIFE SERVICE'S PREDATOR CONTROL. WHY DOES THE GOVERNMENT CONTINUE TO KILL PUBLIC WILDLIFE FOR PRIVATE INTERESTS?

Wildlife Services, a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, was a major force in eliminating wolf and grizzly bear populations in the continental United States. Today, the program spends over $100 million annually to kill more than one million animals.

Some of Wildlife Services’ work, such as preventing bird strikes at airports and controlling the spread of rabies, benefits the public interest. But its current predator control program damages the environment and wastes taxpayer dollars.

PREDATOR CONTROL : OUT OF CONTROL

The core purpose of Wildlife Services’ predator control activities is to prevent commercial livestock losses from predation by wolves, coyotes, mountain lions, and other wild carnivores. Working directly with commercial operators and state and local governments, Wildlife Services uses a combination of lethal control methods, like trapping, aerial gunning, poisoning, and denning (killing young in their dens), and some non-lethal control methods.

But driven by narrow agricultural interests, these predator control activities often ignore the greater public need for a healthy environment, fiscal responsibility, and safe public lands, raising some serious questions about how the program is being administered.

Should the focus be on killing predators? The USDA's own statistics show that most livestock losses come from weather, disease, illness, and birthing problems, not predation. Wildlife Services continues to "preventatively" kill more than 100,000 native carnivores each year, even when the effectiveness of such killing is unproven or, worse, counterproductive.

Exactly how much does lethal predator control cost? The program’s actual annual price tag is unclear. No truly independent cost-benefit analyses of the predator control program have been conducted, and the structure of Wildlife Services' budget tends to obscure the full cost of specific control methods to taxpayers.

What about unintended consequences? Lethal control methods the program employs have led to dozens of injuries and deaths from aircraft crashes, poisoned pets (and even some people), and the degradation of ecosystems that rely on healthy predator populations to function. Some efforts have even increased the reproduction rates of the same animals they’re attempting to control.

Who benefits? Wildlife Services responds directly to ranchers and state fish and game agencies that complain about predation or potential predation, and portions of Wildlife Services’ staff salaries may be paid by private associations. Those private parties aren’t required to show that they’ve tried preventative techniques before the killing begins. *

Wildlife Services’ predator control work cries out for reform. NRDC recommends the following first steps:

Bring more transparency. Wildlife Services’ practices and spending should be more transparent, in line with other federal programs, so the public can assess how taxpayer dollars and natural resources are being used.

Embrace science. A more scientific and rational approach to predator control will balance environmental health and human safety against the demands of a few narrow interests.

Reassess the program’s environmental impact. This predator control work operates under a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) finalized in 1994. Wildlife Services should revise this outdated PEIS, fully evaluating the environmental effects of predator control based on the latest and best available science.

End the worst of the worst killing methods. Wildlife Services can and should immediately end one of the cruelest, most hazardous and environmentally harmful killing methods—the use of two deadly predator poisons, Compound 1080 and sodium cyanide M-44 devices.

Require the use of nonlethal prevention methods. Wildlife Services, and the private parties it assists, should be required to use or attempt to use a range of nonlethal deterrence methods before agreeing to cooperate in the lethal control of predators.

Charlotte Conley, Conservation AssociateI’d like to shed some light on a little known and secretive program within the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA): Wildlife Services. Wildlife Services has many roles, one of which is predator control. This often comes in the form of lethal management of many native carnivores, including gray wolves. Wildlife Services has recently been the subject of public scrutiny regarding unprofessional behavior of some of its employees; the deaths of non-target species, including an endangered Mexican gray wolf; and, failure to implement nonlethal management first before resorting to lethal management, suggesting that the program’s practices are inefficient, ineffective and scientifically unfounded.Defenders has demonstrated through our flagship nonlethal coexistence project, the Wood River Wolf Project, that wolves and livestock can in fact share the same landscape with minimal conflict. In the six years the project has been in operation, no wolves have been lethally removed and less than 1/10th of 1% of sheep have been lost out of more than 27,000 that move through the project area each summer. In fact, Wildlife Services’ National Wildlife Research Center is a partner in that program.Our nonlethal methods, like fladry, have proven to be very effective in preventing conflict with predators - without killing them. Our nonlethal methods have proven to be very effective in preventing conflict with predators – without killing them.The National Wildlife Research Center is a leader in nonlethal research, which develops and studies nonlethal management tools. But, there seems to be a disconnect between the research arm of the agency and practices on the ground. Even when the research center deems certain nonlethal methods effective, often Wildlife Services has been reluctant to implement them more broadly.Defenders just submitted a letter to the USDA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) supporting a Congressional request for an audit of Wildlife Services’ predator control program. In the letter we emphasize the need for review in several key areas.Private Contractor MentalityWildlife Services caters to private interests, mainly private agriculture producers and big game hunters¹. Field agents respond to producer requests acting like private contractors and treating the producers as customers. Too often, they allow producers to dictate the type of predator management they wish to see performed. This mentality is inappropriate for a taxpayer-funded federal agency and encourages ranchers to externalize the costs of doing business.INEFFICIENCIES In many cases lethal management is the wrong tool to use to resolve human-wildlife conflict issues. Wildlife Services claims they use lethal removal only after nonlethal methods have been tried and failed. However, they are unable to provide any evidence to support that claim. A growing body of science has found that the agency’s lethal management of predators to protect livestock and big game is altering ecosystems in ways that diminish biodiversity, degrade habitat and invite disease. Ecologists have found that the removal of apex predators has led to irruptions of invasive and undesirable species, destabilization of ecosystems, reduced resiliency and loss of ecosystem services². Lethal predator control is not effective for reducing depredation over the long term³. Multiple studies of the gray wolf have found depredation relief to be short lived because remaining individuals and recolonizing packs depredate as often as the individuals removed would have [PDF]. We recommend proven non-lethal methods that are more likely to work for longer periods such as moving livestock away from wolf den sites, guard dogs, increased human presence, such as a range rider or herder, and temporary fencing with fladry.

Our non lethal methods have been proven to be very effective in preventing conflict with predators ~ without killing them

LACK OF TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Wildlife Services has become accustomed to a lack of transparency and accountability, often keeping many of their activities and their expenditures hidden from the public. For example, the agency does not report the amount spent on nonlethal management nor the amount spent managing a particular species, protecting a particular type of livestock, or the average expenditure per request for assistance. The public should be able to review evidence that nonlethal methods are correctly implemented and exhausted before Wildlife Services uses lethal management to address a request.Mission CreepBy 1915 Congress had appropriated funds to control wolves and coyotes, and Wildlife Services has been doing it ever since. But they’ve strayed from their original purpose of wildlife damage control to artificial manipulation of predator populations to boost big game. The official mission of the agency is “to provide Federal leadership in managing problems caused by wildlife…and to carry out Federal responsibility for helping to solve problems that occur when human activity and wildlife are in conflict with one another.” Nowhere in that mission is enhancing big game populations by gunning and trapping native predators. Wildlife Services needs to demonstrate its vision “to improve the coexistence of people and wildlife” and “develop and use wildlife damage management strategies that are biologically sound, environmentally safe, and socially acceptable.”It’s time for Wildlife Services to focus on its vision which includes the modern scientific view of the importance of predators in maintaining healthy landscapes. They must use nonlethal management strategies—these are biologically sound, environmentally safe and socially acceptable. They must also be transparent and accountable to the American public. If you, as an American taxpayer, want to see more transparency, accountability and efficiency from this agency that you pay to work, click here to send your own letter to the Office of the Inspector General asking them to do a full audit of Wildlife Services’ predator control program.

A bipartisan group of 72 Members of Congress have written to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to urge that the Agency delist the gray wolf from the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in the Continental United States. The letter was spearheaded by Sens.Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and John Barrasso(R-WY), and Reps. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and DocHastings (R-WA), Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.

In the letter, the Members of Congress write that “[w]olves are not an endangered species and do not merit federal protections. The full delisting of the species and the return of the management of wolf populations to State governments is long overdue. As you know, State governments are fully qualified to responsibly manage wolf populations and are able to meet both the needs of local communities and wildlife populations.”

The lawmakers added that an unmanaged wolf population poses a threat to the communities and surrounding livestock and indigenous wildlife, but that “currently State wildlife officials have their hands tied any time wolves are involved.” They add that State wildlife managers “need to be able to respond to the needs of their native wildlife without being burdened by the impediments of the federal bureaucracy created by the ESA.”

To view a signed copy of the letter, click HERE. The full text of the letter is below:

The Honorable Dan Ashe

Director

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

1849 C Street, NW

Washington, DC 20240

Dear Director Ashe:

We understand the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is in the process of reviewing the Endangered Species Act (ESA) recovery status of the gray wolf in the lower 48 States and is preparing to announce the delisting of the species. We support the nationwide delisting of wolves and urge you to move as quickly as possible on making this a reality. We were supportive of the USFWS decision in 2009 when most wolves were delisted in the Northern Rocky Mountains, again in 2011 when wolves in the Great Lake States were delisted, and the 2012 delisting in Wyoming. It is unfortunate that these decisions were met with lawsuits from environmental activists.

Wolves are not an endangered species and do not merit federal protections. The full delisting of the species and the return of the management of wolf populations to State governments is long overdue. As you know, State governments are fully qualified to responsibly manage wolf populations and are able to meet both the needs of local communities and wildlife populations.

Unmanaged wolves are devastating to livestock and indigenous wildlife. Currently State wildlife officials have their hands tied any time wolves are involved. They need to be able to respond to the needs of their native wildlife without being burdened by the impediments of the federal bureaucracy created by the ESA. During the four decades that wolves have had ESA protections, there has been an uncontrolled and unmanaged growth of wolf populations resulting in devastating impacts on hunting and ranching in America as well as tragic damages to historically strong and healthy herds of moose, elk, big horn sheep, and mule deer.

As you consider these much needed changes to federal protections with regard to the gray wolf, we urge you to expand the delisting of the species to all of the lower 48 states. It is critical that the states be given the ability to properly manage all of the species within their boundaries.

You #Wolves that actually love the Wolves, and not just folks who love the photos of wolves? Are you ready to move past these petitions? WILL YOU PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT TO THE U.S.FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICES ( USFWS ) AND SEND EMAILS TO POLICY MAKERS?http://nowolfhaters.blogspot.com/

These #wolfslaughters have been going on for 40 years now.

Aren't you willing and ready to stop it? I am. I am SO fucking sick of seeing pics of dead wolves.

The presence of wolves may mean hunters can't count on finding elk in favorite hunting spots … but that doesn’t necessarily mean there are fewer elk. That was the message from wildlife managers in three Northwest states Thursday in an online public meeting.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife asked managers from Montana and Idaho to dish out some advice from their experience trying to find a balance among prey like deer and elk, wolves, and hunters.

Jon Rachael in Idaho says his state has found wolves make elk move around more.

“You can expect that you're not going to find elk holding tight the way you had in the past as wolves move into Washington," he says.

Rachael says wolves are taking a toll on the elk population in some parts of Idaho. But over in Montana, wildlife managers say hunters often face bigger competition from cougars, grizzly bears and even black bears.

In 2011, some of us wrote a letter to our state and federal senators protesting the de-listing of the wolves. With this letter, we enclosed a FRAMED, color graphic photo...example of what wolves are enduring to each senator.

Time for another round, as if a photo says a thousand words, a framed photo ought to say a million! Pick up a cheap wood frame --- at least 5x7 (but 8x10 preferred), and follow this sample letter or use it completely:

Dear Senator _______:

Enclosed, please find photographs which document the brutality unleashed on the gray wolves of the Northwest. This is the very first time any animal has ever been delisted from the Endangered Species Act NOT based on science but instead based on special interest groups and political agendas.

In April 2011, Senator ____, you voted to weaken the ESA and delist the gray wolves from federal protection resulting in an ongoing massacre of these iconic animals in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. This was an unconstitutional move on your part in that Section 1713 gives the legislative branch power over the judicial branch and cripples the appeal process of the judicial branch.

You, and 80 other senators, had no idea of the Pandora's Box that you have opened in that 11th hour, backroom deal to assure Jon Tester's seat in the senate and the Democratic majority. I trust you have no idea of the mentality to which you have entrusted, and handed over these defenseless animals. As an example, please observe the photo of the large male wolf and the caption from BilliJo Beck, an outfitter from Idaho, who proudly says "this is my favorite shot...the one with all the blood!!" I trust you have no idea about the internet site Lobo Watch which encourages hunters to poison wolves with Xylitol, with instructions on where to purchase and how to taint an elk carcass with this lethal substance for wolves and any non-target wildlife to consume. I trust you don't know the openly sadistic rantings of a leader of the anti-wolf cult, Toby Bridges of Missoula, Montana who says on his site "...find a wolf, put him in your cross hairs, now skew the gun a little so he won't die right away!" These are just two small examples of the unfounded distain and savagery the innocent wolves must face every day. Adult wolves are lured with recordings of pups in distress, knowing they will risk all to come to the aid of a pup needing help; the adults then are easily ambushed and killed. The maligned wolf of the Northwest is the victim of hatred, fear-mongering, barbaric leg-hold and snare traps, arrows, bullets, poisons, denning, and planned aerial hunts.

Keep in mind that Jon Tester's constituents are comprised of ranchers and trophy hunters. The ranchers want their 'cash' cows to graze on public lands - wolf territory! The trophy hunters do not want to compete with wolves for prey animals like elk. Trophy hunters weaken the herds by taking the best specimen of elk, the healthiest with the largest rack, and leaving the lesser elk to breed. Since the delisting began, the wolf killing states have grown to include Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Minnesota, with Michigan rattling his saber too.

Senator ______, I campaigned for you and as a constituent of the state of ________, I am asking you to do the moral thing, listen to the science, and use your influence to reverse this outrageous carnage inflicted on the father of all dogs, the brethren of Native Americans, and the symbol of the American free spirit -- the majestic gray wolf.

Sincerely, ...........YOU!

GOOD WOLF Feel free to use your own graphic photo, of course. or choose one of these.

Note from Stop Wolf Hunts. There are over a hundred of these photos towards the bottom of this page. Feel free to take anything you can use. Thank you.

I don't believe that hunting for wolves in California is allowed. I just checked the website and tried to call them but there is a message saying "unable to answer your call at this time".I'm not even sure that there is a wolf population in California???http://www.dfg.ca.gov/Hunting/